As Turkey heads towards an İstanbul election re-run on June 23, the country’s central bank on Wednesday kept interest rates steady at 24 percent, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
The decision was announced in a statement following the bank’s fourth Monetary Policy Committee (PPK) meeting. The bank will hold four more PPK meetings this year.
Recent data show the rebalancing trend in the economy has continued, the bank noted.
“External demand maintains its relative strength while economic activity displays a slow pace, partly due to tight financial conditions,” it said.
The bank expects the current account balance to maintain its trend of improvement.
In 2018 the central bank held nine PPK meetings as interest rates climbed from 8 percent to 24 percent over the course of the year.
After an opposition win in Turkey’s largest city, İstanbul, in the March 31 local elections, the Supreme Election Board (YSK) canceled the results, citing irregularities, and ordered a repeat election.