Turkish Central Bank expected to hold interest rates

A group of leading economists has predicted that Turkey's Central Bank will keep interest rates on hold in the short term. With the bank's monetary policy committee due to meet on August 27, the 20 experts surveyed by The Anadolu Agency expected little if any change in interest rates. The majority predicted the rate will remain the same while two forecast it would decrease by 0.25 base points and one predicted a drop by 0.5 point. The committee reduced the rates by 0.5 and 0.75 points at its May and June meetings. The government has criticized the bank for maintaining high interest rates, describing it as a constraint on economic growth. İn January the bank introduced drastic interest rate hikes in response to the rise of the U.S. dollar against the Turkish lira.