By Karin Strohecker
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Turkey’s deputy central bank governor, Hatice Karahan, said on Wednesday that monetary policy tightness will be the main risk management tool to overcome the current volatility.
“The main thing here for us in this turbulent time is giving the message about our strong monetary policy stance,” Karahan said at an Institute of International Finance event on the sidelines of the IMF/World bank meetings in Washington.
“The tightness in our monetary stance will be the main risk management tool for us to overcome these volatile times.”
The IMF on Tuesday lowered its forecast for global economic growth for this year and next, citing century-high tariffs in the United States and the prospect of a trade war.
Karahan said the Turkish government’s commitment to spending targets would eventually add to disinflation pressures.
Turkish annual consumer price inflation slowed to 38.1% in March from a peak of around 75% last May.
“It is important to get the fiscal support from the government,” Karahan said.
“When we consider the strong commitment of the government to the medium-term program, the fiscal targets there, we expect to see further support in the disinflation process from the fiscal side.”
(Reporting by Karin Strohecker; writing by Rodrigo Campos; editing by Chris Reese and Shri Navaratnam)
