Turkey's central bank expected to hold rates steady until Q4
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ISTANBUL, July 19 (Reuters) -Turkey's central bank will not trim its policy rate from the current 50% until next quarter, continuing its battle to bring soaring inflation levels under control, a Reuters poll of economists suggested.
The central bank raised the main policy rate by 500 basis points in March following a February pause, citing a deterioration in the inflation outlook. It would leave it unchanged this month, according to all 26 economists in the July 15-19 Reuters poll.
Backed by President Tayyip Erdogan, the central bank has raised the policy rate by 4,150 basis points since June last year.
The CBRT has said it will maintain its tight monetary policy stance with an interest rate of 50% until a permanent decline in inflation is achieved. In June, the central bank reiterated that disinflation would take hold in the second half of the year.
Median forecasts from the survey showed the CBRT cutting later this year. The policy rate was expected to drop by 500 basis points to 45% by the end of 2024.
But any significant easing was not expected to come until next year. The central bank was forecast to have reduced rates by 2,250 basis points to 27.50% by the end of 2025, almost half what it is now.
"We maintain our forecast of no change in policy rates until January 2025. Based on our recent investor trip to Turkiye, it seems local banks and independent economists broadly expect the first rate cut to come in Q4 24, more specifically in November or October," Barclays said in a research note.
"If inflation falls faster than we expect, the central bank might consider easing earlier," it added.
In June, the CBRT said it expected inflation to fall to 38% by the end of the year.
According to survey medians, inflation was expected to decrease from 71.6% in June to 43.7% by the end of this year. The survey predicted inflation would drop to 24.7% by end-2025.
The survey also indicated that Turkey's economic growth will fall below government forecasts this year, while inflation will exceed expectations.
Growth was expected to average 3.2% this year and next, median forecasts showed. Turkey's current medium-term programme predicts growth of 4.0% this year and 4.5% next year.
The economy grew 4.5% in 2023.
The current account deficit was expected to be 2.4% and 2.3% of GDP in 2024 and 2025 respectively.
(Other stories from the Reuters global economic poll)
Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun and Ece Toksabay; Polling by Sarupya Ganguly; Editing by Hari Kishan and Andrew Heavens
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