Turkey’s central bank raised interest rates for the first time since a currency crisis in late 2018, surprising most economists after a series of backdoor measures fell short of stabilizing the lira.
The Monetary Policy Committee led by Governor Murat Uysal increased the benchmark one-week repo rate to 10.25% from 8.25% on Thursday. Most economists in a Bloomberg survey predicted no change. The lira surged after the announcement and traded 1.2% stronger against the dollar as of 2:35 p.m. in Istanbul.
