Turkey keeps interest rates at 14% for the third month.

Ankara, March 17 Thursday, Turkey's central bank decided to keep interest rates at 14% for the third consecutive month, when inflation reached 54% in February, a figure that has not been seen for 20 years. The issuing bank had raised the price last time it cut interest rates by 100 basis points in December and fell for the fourth time in a row at that time. Inflation is associated with a large-scale depreciation of the Turkish lira, which in 2021 has lost 45% of its value due to the high interest rate policy created by the Central Bank of Turkey and promoted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan, who claims that inflation is rising due to high interest rates, has changed the governor of the Central Bank four times since July 2019. According to some economists, the Russian invasion of Ukraine can have a negative impact on the economy, leading to inflation in Turkey. For example, Turkey is a major tourist destination for Russia and Ukraine. Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati believed that inflation would decrease due to the easing of international tensions. According to the Daily Saba newspaper, “especially from the end of the year, we will see a decline (inflation) and a rapid normalization of the whole.