Turkey’s central bank cuts interest rate

ANKARA: Turkey’s central bank on Tuesday cut one of its main interest rates by 50 basis points hours after a new cabinet line-up was unveiled by the incoming prime minister, a loyalist of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The central bank said the overnight lending rate was trimmed to 9.5 per cent from 10.0 per cent while its one-week repurchasing rate remained intact at 7.5 per cent. The overnight borrowing rate, at which banks lend to each other at the end of the day, was kept at 7.25 per cent. Tuesday’s announcement came shortly after Turkey’s incoming Prime Minister Binali Yildirim unveiled his new cabinet line-up, with most key ministers keeping their jobs, including Mehmet Simsek, deputy prime minister in charge of economy.