Turkey’s central bank lowered its benchmark one-week repo rate by 300 basis points to 43% on 24 July, resuming an easing cycle that had been interrupted earlier this year. The move exceeded the 250-point reduction most economists expected and marks the first cut since March. The Monetary Policy Committee said future steps would be set "prudently" on a meeting-by-meeting basis, pointing to a flat underlying inflation trend. Annual consumer-price growth slowed to 35.05% in June from a peak of 75% a year earlier, and the bank projects a temporary uptick in July before further deceleration. Governor Fatih Karahan had struck a hawkish tone during investor meetings in London, and some analysts criticised the outsized cut as a communication misstep. The lira held steady around 40.48 per dollar after the announcement, suggesting limited immediate market fallout. The CBRT had raised the policy rate by 350 points to 46% in April, citing volatility that followed the March arrest of opposition Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, and then kept the rate unchanged in June. Economists now expect additional but smaller cuts, with the benchmark rate seen falling to about 36% by the end of 2025, though ongoing political tensions continue to cloud the outlook.