Turkey: Central bank holds rates in first meeting with new chief

Turkey’s central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged but dropped a pledge to deliver more rate hikes.

Turkey’s central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged but removed a pledge to deliver additional tightening in the first monetary policy meeting under its newly appointed governor. The Monetary Policy Committee held its key rate at 19% Thursday, in line with the forecasts of most analysts in a Bloomberg survey. While the decision matched market expectations, the bank’s omission of an earlier pledge to keep monetary policy tight and even deliver additional rate hikes if needed weighed on the lira. The currency reversed earlier gains and was trading 0.5% lower at 8.1226 per dollar at 3:01 p.m. in Istanbul.