Türkiye hikes policy interest rate 500 points, matching forecasts Central Bank of Türkiye raises one-week repo rate for 4th time in row to 30%               The Central Bank of Türkiye on Thursday raised its policy rate by 500 basis points to 30%, meeting market forecasts. Economists polled by Anadolu survey last week said they expected a 500-basis-point interest rate hike, with the lowest estimate at 250 basis points and the highest at 600. At its August meeting, the bank hiked its policy interest rate 750 basis points to 25%. It pledged to continue the monetary tightening process to help bring down inflation. According to the latest data from TurkStat, Türkiye's annual inflation rose to 58.94% in August, up from 47.8% in July. After the appointment of Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan, the bank ended its 27-month monetary easing cycle and on Thursday raised rates for the fourth consecutive meeting. The US assistant secretary of commerce for global markets expressed optimism about the potential for significant growth in trade between the US and Türkiye, highlighting the importance of the "deep strategic partnership" between the two countries. "I think we are at a unique turning point in history. We have such a deep strategic partnership," Arun Venkataraman said, sharing his assessment of Türkiye-US trade relations with Anadolu. Underlining the decades-long presence of many American companies in Türkiye, Venkataraman said the country was on a "great trajectory," with a "real opportunity for the US-Turkish business to grow exponentially."   On the goal to achieve $100 billion trade volume between the US and Türkiye, he said this is attainable "given the depth of commercial relationships, given the entrepreneurship that exists in both countries." Venkataraman also stressed that both Ankara and Washington needed to work towards this goal. "We have to set the right policies in place to make sure that we can encourage trade between our peoples." An annual US trade conference called Trade Winds is scheduled to take place in the Turkish metropolis Istanbul in May, he said, adding that the US trade delegation would be the largest yet attending the conference.   At the conference, "... We hope to really be able to expand US-Turkish business ties with concrete connections between companies and we think that's a good first step towards attaining that goal," said Venkataraman. According to data from the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM), Türkiye's exports to the US reached $16.9 billion last year, while imports from that country amounted to $15.2 billion. This resulted in a trade volume of over $32 billion between the two nations, surpassing the approximately $28 billion recorded in 2021. Chemicals were the leading category in Türkiye's exports to the US, followed by automotive, steel, and the ready-to-wear clothing industry.