- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Oil extends gains, jobs report lifts Wall Street
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- As EU targets Chinese cars, European rivals sputter
- Top EU court finds against FIFA in key transfer market ruling
- Oil extends gains, Hong Kong stocks resume rally
- 'A man provides': Ukrainian miners send families away as Russia advances
- EU states greenlight extra tariffs on EVs from China
- Hong Kong stocks resume rally, oil dips after Middle East-fuelled surge
- Crude stable after Israel-Iran surge, Hong Kong stocks resume gains
- Hera spacecraft to probe asteroid deflected by defence test
- US dockworkers to head back to work after tentative deal
- After Helene's destruction, North Carolina starts to rebuild
- Dockers end three-day strike at Montreal port
- What next for OpenAI after $157 billion bonanza?
- Israel-Hamas war causes 86-percent dive in Gaza GDP: IMF
- Milan's Morata moves house after Inter-fan town mayor 'violates' privacy
- 'Devastating' storm hits Augusta National but Masters will go on
- Relief in Brazil, Asia over delay to EU deforestation rules
- Oil prices jump, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Biden says 'discussing' possible Israeli strikes on Iran oil facilities
- Oil prices rise, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Oil rallies, stocks mostly retreat on Middle East tensions
- Phasing out teen smoking could save 1.2 mn lives: study
- 'Welcome relief': Asia producers hail EU deforestation law delay
- Japan PM slated to announce plans for 'happiness index'
- Turkish inflation falls less than expected in September at 49.4%
- Easing inflation lifts profit at UK supermarket Tesco
- Skiing calls on UN climate science to combat melting future
- China wine industry looks to breed climate resilience
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong drops after surge
- Dutch airline KLM unveils 'firm' cost-cutting measures
- Carpe diem: the Costa Rican women turning fish into fashion
- Senegal looks to aquaculture as fish stocks dwindle
- Will AI one day win a Nobel Prize?
- Climate change, economics muddy West's drive to curb Chinese EVs
Turkish central bank cuts rates again as inflation rockets
Turkey's central bank on Thursday cut its policy rate for the third consecutive month despite a plunging lira and an annual inflation rate that has soared over 83 percent.
Turkey's monetary policymakers are bucking the global trend of central banks raising interest rates to combat inflation, as high borrowing rates cool down the economy and prices.
The latest decision comes after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the central bank would keep cutting rates every month for "as long as I am in power" -- and despite inflation hitting 83.45 percent in September on an annual basis.
Erdogan wants to lower interest rates to single digits by the end of the year as he prioritises economic growth eight months before a general election -- which could promise to be the closest since he came to power nearly two decades ago.
Turkish policymakers have insisted on following this unconventional economic model at the expense of an astronomical inflation.
The central bank said Thursday it was cutting its one-week repo rate to 10.5 percent from 12 percent, with a surge in consumer prices it said was "driven by the lagged and indirect effects of rising energy costs" caused by Russia's war on Ukraine.
The interest rate cut was widely anticipated, but the 150 basis points cut was larger than expected after two 100 basis points moves in both August and September.
The bank hinted that the easing cycle would end next month.
"The (Monetary Policy) Committee evaluated taking a similar step in the following meeting and ending the rate cut cycle," the bank said.
Liam Peach, senior emerging markets economist at the London-based Capital Economics, said this guidance "appears to be an admission that lowering interest rates is hardly the right thing to be doing when inflation is so high."
"But at the same time, it would take interest rates to nine percent and satisfy Erdogan's wish to bring rates down into single digits," he added.
- 'Re-election strategy'-
Inflation began to rise worldwide after economies emerged from Covid lockdowns but it worsened this year as Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent energy and food prices through the roof.
Erdogan, a vocal opponent of higher borrowing costs, has called high interest rates his "biggest enemy".
Earlier this month he vowed that while he remained in power, "the interest will continue to come down with each passing day, each passing week, each passing month."
As a result, the Turkish lira keeps losing its value against the US dollar and is down 28 percent since January.
"Erdogan's economic re-election strategy is clear... use money from Russia and (the) Gulf to fund FX intervention to defend the lira, cut policy rates as far as possible to get credit and growth going," BlueBay Asset Management analyst Timothy Ash said.
The powerful Turkish leader has responded to the economic crisis by an overhaul of his foreign policy and repairing ties with his former rivals in the Arab world, including oil-rich Saudi Arabia.
Additional trade-focussed deals with Russia have helped shore up Turkey's dwindling foreign currency reserves and potentially given Erdogan enough breathing room to ride out the economic storm until the June election.
However, Washington has been warning Turkish companies and banks trading with Russia for several months they could face possible sanctions.
Elizabeth Rosenberg, the US assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes, traveled to Ankara and Istanbul this week, the Department of the Treasury said.
Her meetings "affirmed the importance of close partnership between the United States and Turkey in addressing the risks caused by sanctions evasion and other illicit financial activities."
P.Schmidt--CPN