Turkish Central Bank lowers interest rates 200 bps

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish Central Bank on Thursday lowered its one-week repo rate 200 basis points.

The policy rate, also known as the one-week repo rate, fell from 14% to 12%.

The decision came in a statement by the bank's Monetary Policy Committee meeting, the last of eight meetings scheduled for this year.

The cut was above market expectation of 150 basis points.

According to an Anadolu Agency survey on Monday, economists expected a 150 basis points cut in interest rates, with the lowest estimate at 100 basis points, and the highest at 225.

Since the beginning of this year, the bank has cut the rate a total 1,200 basis points, down from 24%.

The bank announced last week that next year it would raise the number of its monetary policy committee meetings to 12.