ANKARA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Türkiye's central bank on Thursday cut its benchmark interest rate by 250 basis points to 45 percent, marking its second rate cut after keeping rates steady for months.
"While the underlying trend of inflation decreased in December, leading indicators point to an increase in January, in line with the projections. This increase is mainly driven by services items with time-dependent pricing and backward indexation," the bank's Monetary Policy Committee said in a statement.
"The tight monetary stance will be maintained until price stability is achieved via a sustained decline in inflation," the statement noted.
The bank stated that the policy rate will be determined in a way to ensure the tightness required by the projected disinflation path, taking into account both realized and expected inflation, as well as and the underlying trend, said the bank.
Türkiye has been grappling with rising inflation for years. From June 2023 to March 2024, the central bank raised its key interest rate from 8.5 percent to 50 percent to tighten monetary policy, and then kept the interest rate unchanged from March to December. The bank cut its benchmark interest rate by 250 basis points to 47.5 percent in December last year. ■
