The Turkish central bank introduced on Thursday a reserve requirement based on loan growth, a regulation published in the country's Official Gazette showed, a day after the bank took additional tightening measures to support the monetary stance.
According to the regulation, a Turkish lira reserve requirement will be introduced to lenders for the part of the loans that exceeds a monthly growth rate of 2% for one year.
The bank's move came after it took steps to curb lending and discouraged banks' demand for foreign currency in the face of a sliding lira and some expectations that it may need to raise interest rates further to cool inflation.
The Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) cut lenders' monthly growth limits to 2% for both commercial and general-purpose loans, from 2.5% to 3%, a day earlier to "reinforce its commitment to tight monetary policy stance," it said.
The bank said in a statement on the loan limit on Wednesday that "additional work is being carried out on introducing reserve requirements based on loan growth to enhance the effectiveness of measures about growth limits."
"Moreover, further measures are being assessed to strengthen the monetary transmission mechanism," it added.
Last month, the central bank paused the monetary policy-tightening cycle after eight consecutive monthly hikes, which saw the one-week repo rate increase by 3,650 basis points to 45%. It said the rate was high enough to ensure disinflation.
Still, it said the policy could be tightened "in case a significant and persistent deterioration in inflation outlook is anticipated."
Official data showed on Monday that annual inflation rose by a stronger-than-expected 67.07% in February, prompting JPMorgan to forecast a rate hike in April.
Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek has pledged "full support" for the central bank, saying that "monetary policy works, but it works with lags."
"Disinflation requires time and steadfastness. We will continue to work patiently and diligently until price stability is achieved," he wrote on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday.
"Additional tightening measures by the CBRT will contribute to balancing growth, narrowing the current account deficit, and breaking inflationary trends," he said.
