Türkiye’s central bank decided to keep its interest rate unchanged at 8.5 percent on Thursday ahead of the May 14 elections.
The inflation has been eased, and the economic fallout from the earthquake is being closely monitored, the bank said in a statement following the Monetary Policy Committee meeting.
“It has become even more important to keep financial conditions supportive to preserve the growth momentum in industrial production and the positive trend in employment after the earthquake. Accordingly, the Committee has decided to keep the policy rate unchanged,” the statement said.
Türkiye’s consumer index in April increased by 3.5 percent month-on-month to 102.2, the highest level since November 2021, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute on Thursday.
On April 21, Erdogan said the interest rate will fall as long as he is in power, and that inflation will decline with them, repeating his unorthodox views.
In February, the bank delivered an interest rate cut from 9 percent to 8.5 despite high inflation and a massive quake disaster.
When its southeastern region was hit on Feb. 6 by two successive and massive earthquakes, Türkiye was on its way to recovering from a 24-year high inflation of 85 percent recorded in October last year. Türkiye’s annual inflation slowed to 50.5 percent in March.
