Turkey hikes interest rate again to 45% after inflation nears 65%

• Turkey’s central bank on Thursday hiked its key interest rate to 45%, in line as expected.
• Inflation in Turkey increased to 64.8% year-on-year in December, up from 62% in November.
• Meanwhile, the country’s currency, the lira, hit a new record low against the U.S. dollar earlier in January, breaking 30 to the greenback for the first time.

Turkey’s central bank on Thursday hiked its key interest rate by another 250 basis points to 45%.

The hike to the benchmark one-week repo rate was in line with economists’ expectations.

It comes amid an ongoing battle against double-digit inflation for Turkey’s monetary policymakers, with the rate hike the latest step in that effort.

Inflation in Turkey increased to 64.8% year-on-year in December, up from 62% in November, and the country’s currency, the lira, hit a new record low against the U.S. dollar earlier in January, breaking 30 to the greenback for the first time.

This is a developing news story and will be updated shortly.