ANKARA (dpa-AFX) - Turkey's central bank kept its key interest rates unchanged, as widely expected, as inflation continued to remain high.
The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey governed by Sahap Kavcioglu, decided to hold the key one-week repo rate at 19.00 percent.
The bank had last lifted the interest rates by 200 basis points at the March meeting under the leadership of former governor Naci Agbal.
Taking into account the high levels of inflation and inflation expectations, the current tight monetary policy stance will be maintained decisively until the significant fall in the Inflation Report's forecast path is achieved, the bank said in a statement.
In July, consumer price inflation surged to 19 percent from 17.5 percent in the previous month, driven by higher food and housing inflation.
'The policy rate will continue to be determined at a level above inflation to maintain a strong disinflationary effect until strong indicators point to a permanent fall in inflation and the medium-term 5 percent target is reached,' the bank added.
The committee observed that domestic economic activity remains strong in the third quarter, with the help of robust external demand.
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