ANKARA, Aug 24 The Central Bank of Turkey immediately raised the discount rate to 25% from the previous 17.5%, experts predicted a cautious increase.
«The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Turkey has raised the discount rate — the auction one-week repo rate — by 750 basis points to 25%,» the central bank said in a statement.
At the same time, experts noted earlier that the central bank, «unloading» the markets by quickly raising bank rates, does not want to put certain sections of society and the business sector in a difficult position, so it will go for a cautious increase.
The Central Bank of Turkey, in turn, said back in June that it would continue to gradually tighten monetary policy until the forecast for high inflation changes. At the same time, on June 22, the regulator raised the refinancing rate for the first time in more than two years — to 15% from 8.5%, although analysts had expected it at 21%. Meanwhile, in early July, the value of the Turkish national currency — the lira — updated its historical low against the dollar and for the first time broke the mark of 27 lira per dollar.