Economics
Erdogan Says He Wants Turkey’s Interest Rate in Single Digits This Year
- Turkish president says rates will fall further, won’t go up
- Erdogan says he hopes for rate cuts in October and beyond
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Photographer: Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images
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Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for the central bank to continue cutting its main interest rate to below 10% by year-end, defying investors and economists who say rate increases are needed to tame inflation raging above 80%.
“The interest rate has been lowered to 12%,” Erdogan said in a live interview with CNNTurk television late on Wednesday, referring to a surprise 100 basis-point cut in the benchmark one-week repo rate earlier this month. “From now on there is no going up, it will fall further. That will also reduce inflation.”