Turkish Central Bank reduces monetary policy meetings

By Bahattin Gonultas

ANKARA

The Turkish Central Bank has reduced its number of Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meetings from 12 to eight times a year, the bank said Saturday.

The move is intended to give the bank more time to formulate effective monetary policy responses.

Last November, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek announced that the bank would reduce the meetings.

"With a new legal arrangement, the number of the bank's interest rate-determining monthly meetings will be reduced to at least eight times a year," Simsek, who oversees the economy, said.

"Reducing the number of meetings will give more time to the bank to establish an effective monetary policy response based on analyzes which reflect key trends and are free of short-term volatility," he said.

Simsek defended the new move was in line with international practice just like U.S. Federal Open Market Committee meetings.

The central bank said that its Monetary and Exchange Rate Policy for 2018 will be published on Dec. 5, 2017.

The bank said that its schedule of Monetary Policy Committee meetings and reports in 2017 has been set as follows;