Erdogan Escalates Attack on Turkish Central Bank ‘Mockery’

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan escalated his offensive against the nation’s central bank, pushing policy makers to cut interest rates faster to boost economic growth.

Erdogan said today during his weekly address to lawmakers of the ruling Justice and Development Party that the central bank headed by Governor Erdem Basci was even failing in its stated objective of lowering inflation to its 5-percent target. The bank cut its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 9.5 percent last week, after more than doubling it to 10 percent in January.