ISTANBUL-Turkey’s central bank announced a smaller interest rate hike than in previous months the other day, signalling it is nearing the end of its monetary tightening as it battles double-digit inflation. He appointed a new team of market-friendly economists, including Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek and central bank governor Hafize Gaye Erkan, who has Wall Street experience. The central bank expects consumer prices to peak in May of next year at between 70 and 75 percent. “This will almost certainly not be the last rate rise in this cycle,” Cagri Kutman, Turkish market specialist at KNG Securities, the fixed-income investment bank, said in a note. Bartosz Sawicki, market analyst at Conotoxia fintech, suggested that the central bank is set to halt the tightening cycle before the local elections in March.
