Turkey Rate Path in Limbo in Wake of Erdogan Rival’s Arrest (1)

Turkey is set for a tricky interest-rate decision on Thursday, due to the market turmoil following last month’s arrest of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s biggest rival and the onset of a global trade war.

Since Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu — seen as a potential challenger to Erdogan in a presidential election — was detained in mid-March, causing mass protests, the central bank has drained close to $50 billion from its reserves to stem losses in the lira. It also announced a surprise increase of its secondary interest rate. The fallout across markets from US President Donald Trump’s tariff ...