STORY: Türkiye's central bank expected to hike interest rate: media
DATELINE: July 20, 2023
LENGTH: 0:00:32
LOCATION: ISTANBUL, Türkiye
CATEGORY: ECONOMY
 
SHOTLIST:
1. various of Türkiye's central bank
2. various of Istanbul
 
STORYLINE:
 
Türkiye's central bank is likely to raise its main interest rate by 500 basis points to 20 percent, economists told the state-run Anadolu news agency on Wednesday.
 
The bank's rate decision will be announced on Thursday at 2 p.m. local time (1100 GMT).
 
Marek Drimal, an expert at Societe Generale's Emerging Markets Strategy research team, predicted that the central bank's rate decision would be compatible with its policy of gradual return to the economic orthodoxy.
 
He forecast the bank would increase its rate to 20 percent from 15 percent, according to Anadolu.
 
Last month, the bank, led by its new governor Hafize Gaye Erkan, raised the interest rate from 8.5 percent to 15 percent, the first such hike in more than two years.
 
The rate hike marks a return to more orthodox monetary policies. Although President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defends lower rates to stimulate growth, the president said he accepted his new team's steps to address the country's economic crisis.
 
An Anadolu Agency survey also revealed that most of the participating economists agreed that the interest rate would be raised by 500 basis points to 20 percent.
 
Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Istanbul, Türkiye.
(XHTV)