Turkey bank keeps rates steady

Turkey's central bank on Wednesday kept its main interest rates unchanged, in a widely anticipated move just over two weeks ahead of June 7 elections. The central bank is keeping a careful eye on inflation while also trying not to provoke President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has called for aggressive rate cuts to boost growth.
The bank said in a statement after its latest monetary policy committee meeting that the one-week repurchase rate would be kept at 7.50 percent, the marginal funding rate at 10.75 percent and the borrowing rate at 7.25 percent. The bank said in its statement that it was carefully watching inflation due to recent pressure on the Turkish lira on currency markets. "Recently elevated volatility in the exchange rates has limited the improvement in the core inflation," the bank said.