Governor of the Turkish Central Bank between Narin … and inflation exceeds 16%

Data on Monday showed that inflation in Turkey rose to 16.19% year-on-year in March, the highest level since mid-2019.

The pressure continues on the new governor of the central bank, Shehab Qafcioglu, to maintain the policy of monetary tightening.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 1.08%, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute, compared to a Reuters poll forecast of a 1.04% increase in February. While the annual inflation rate has reached 15.61%.

The Reuters poll had forecast an annual rate in March of 16.11%, well above the official target of 5%.

The producer price index rose 4.13% month over month and 31.2% annually, the data showed.

The central bank raised interest rates to 19% in March, citing fears of inflation. But the sudden impeachment of the former central bank governor pushed the lira to historically low levels, adding further pressure to inflation.

In a startling statement, Ihsanoglu said, markets should not act as if it was taken for granted that interest rates would be cut at the April meeting, which is the first meeting of the monetary policy committee since its meeting. surprise appointment.

Further, Davutoglu said in a written response to questions emailed by Bloomberg News, referring to the MPC meeting next month: “I don’t agree with a biased approach to MPC decisions in April or in the following months to immediately reduce interest rates. From what has been seen by “Al Arabiya.net”.

Erdogan

“In the new period, we will continue to take our decisions from the point of view of corporate monetary policy to ensure a permanent reduction in inflation. He also stressed that the effects of the policy measures taken so far will be monitored.” , he added. added.