ANKARA
Turkey’s central bank announced Tuesday that a decision on reducing interest rates would be delayed until Feb. 24.
The bank had scheduled an emergency meeting of its monetary policy committee to consider an interest rate cut for Wednesday. The interest rate decision was pegged to the announcement of a decline in inflation.
That decline was announced on Tuesday, with inflation down to an annual rate of 7.24 percent from 8.17 percent as reported in December 2014, according to a statement released by the Turkish Statistical Institute.
Meanwhile, the central bank released a statement calling the decline in inflation "satisfactory," but a ruling on interest rates was still delayed.
The government has repeatedly called for substantial cuts in interest rates, but the central bank insisted that rate cuts must be tied to declines in inflation.
The announcement of an emergency monetary policy committee meeting on Jan. 30 by Central Bank Governor Erdem Basci had triggered a run on the Turkish lira, which dropped about 4 percent against the dollar.
The central bank is concerned about the stability of the currency and has reportedly delayed interest rate cuts to support the lira.
