The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) left its one-week repo rate unchanged at 14.0% on Thursday, as widely expected. The move to hold interest rates comes despite the fact that the YoY rate of inflation according to the Consumer Price Index rose to nearly 70% in April, data earlier in the month showed. 

Market Reaction

The lira saw a choppy reaction to the latest CBRT announcement and USD/TRY continues to trade near multi-month highs in the 16.40 area on Thursday. The pair has rallied more than 10% from earlier monthly lows in the mid-14.00s over the past three weeks.    

Many analysts suspect that the CBRT will be forced into hiking interest rates before the end of the year given the continued surge in inflation, as well as the continued devaluation of the lira, which is down roughly 20% on 2022 after dropping around 44% in value in 2021.