Turkish central bank tinkers around the edges to defend lira

The Turkish central bank left its official interest rates unchanged today, but managed to make its monetary policy framework even more complex by tweaking a few obscure tools in an effort to release foreign currency liquidity and shore up the lira. The bigger picture is that the country’s gaping current account deficit, high inflation and relatively large dollar debts mean monetary conditions will need to remain tight, despite government pressure to revive the economy ahead of June’s elections.