Turkey: CBRT leaves policy rate unchanged at 19% as expected

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) announced on Thursday that it left its policy (one-week repo) rate unchanged at 19% as expected. 

Key takeaways from policy statement as summarized by Reuters

"Current tight monetary policy stance will be maintained decisively until the significant fall in the April inflation report's forecast path is achieved."

"Rate continues to be determined at a level above inflation to maintain a strong disinflationary effect."

"Will decisively use all available instruments."

"Decelerating impact of the monetary tightening on credit and domestic demand has begun to be observed."

Market reaction

With the initial market reaction, the USD/TRY pair edged lower from the daily high it set at 8.6566 and was last seen posting small gains at 8.6215.