ANKARA
An interest rate cut by the Turkish Central Bank would benefit the Turkish economy, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said on Monday.
Zeybekci’s comment comes as the bank's monetary policy committee is due to meet on Tuesday to update interest rates.
However, the Turkish central bank is expected to hold interest rates at their current levels at the meeting, according to a panel of 14 economists surveyed by Anadolu Agency on Friday.
A vocal critic of the central bank’s policies, Zeybekci told reporters at the Turkish parliament: "I believe the central bank will able to ease rates with the formation of a new government."
Turkish political parties are negotiating to form a coalition government after the June 7 election, which resulted in no single party winning a simple majority.
The central bank left its main interest rates unchanged on May 20; the one-week repo rate, the rate at which the central bank makes one-week loans to lenders, stayed at 7.5 percent, the overnight lending rate, the rate which determines the cost of overnight loans to banks at 10.75 percent and the overnight borrowing rate at 7.25 percent.
Zeybekci also said the central bank's job will be easier with continued political stability.
