Turkey hikes interest rate again to 45% after inflation nears 65%

Turkey's central bank on Thursday hiked its key interest rate by another 250 basis points to 45%.

The hike to the benchmark one-week repo rate was in line with economists' expectations.

It comes amid an ongoing battle against double-digit inflation for Turkey's monetary policymakers, with the rate hike the latest step in that effort.

Inflation in Turkey increased to 64.8% year-on-year in December, up from 62% in November, and the country's currency, the lira, hit a new record low against the U.S. dollar earlier in January, breaking 30 to the greenback for the first time.

Analysts predict this will be the last hike for some time, especially with local elections approaching in March.

"Encouragingly, the communications were relatively hawkish and suggest that policymakers recognise the need to keep interest rates high for a prolonged period if they are to have success in bringing inflation back down to single digits," Liam Peach, senior emerging markets economist at London-based firm Capital Economics wrote in a note. "Our baseline view remains that the central bank will keep rates unchanged throughout this year."

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey itself signaled that this was likely the end of the tightening cycle, saying of its decision: "The monetary tightness required to establish the disinflation course is achieved ... The current level of the policy rate will be maintained until there is a significant decline in the underlying trend of monthly inflation and until inflation expectations converge to the projected forecast range."

The central bank's move is the latest in a series of interest rate increases — now eight consecutive hikes since the May 2023 elections — that have been painful for Turks, as the country