Interest rate

Turkey's Central Bank left interest rates unchanged on Oct. 21, shying away from a hike ahead of a Nov. 1 election and waiting to take its cue from an expected tightening by the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed). 

NBS Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic has said that she expects interest rates on bank loans to be reduced.

According to her, this should happen "given that the central has recently cut the reference interest rate to five percent."

The U.S. Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Sept. 17 in a nod to concerns about a weak world economy, but left open the possibility of a modest policy tightening later this year.

The Federal Reserve began a two-day policy meeting on Sept.16 with economists evenly split on whether Sept.17 will see the first official U.S. interest rate rise since 2006.

The decision by the U.S. central bank's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is expected on Sept.17 at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT). 

More needs to be done to achieve an additional 2 percent increase in growth over five years as targeted by G-20 countries at a summit last year in Australia, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Cevdet Y?lmaz said on Sept. 6.

Turkey holds the G-20 presidency this year and has just finished hosting a meeting of finance ministers in the capital Ankara, from where Y?lmaz was speaking.

Turkey's Central Bank on Aug. 29 raised the reserve ratio on lenders' short-term hard currency borrowings to encourage the banks to borrow longer-term and bring more stability to a domestic currency market that has been subject to big swings.

Mark Mobius, the executive chairman of the Templeton Emerging Markets Group, has said Turkey?s economy was not ?fragile? in an interview with Anadolu Agency, adding there were great opportunities in Turkey for investors.  

Greeks are resorting to negative interest rates, taking their money out of local lenders and placing it in foreign bank accounts – in effect choosing to pay a premium for the protection of their capital.

The Central Bank warned in its annual report issued on Monday that high interest rates are causing a decrease in liquidity which could lead to insolvency, while also contributing to last year's decline in investment activity.

"In the long run, that leads to stagnation and a recession in economic activity," the report said.

Central bank cuts reference interest rate to 6.5 pct

BELGRADE -- The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) Executive Board on Monday lowered the reference interest rate by 0.5 percentage points to 6.5 percent.