Turkey's Central Bank holds interest rates constant

The Central Bank on Thursday announced its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had decided to keep short-term interest rates constant.

The bank said in a statement that the one-week repo rate, also known as the bank's policy rate, was maintained at 8 percent.

The marginal funding and overnight borrowing rates were also steady at 9.25 and 7.25 percent, respectively.

The bank also kept late liquidity window interest rates unchanged -- the borrowing rate at 0 percent, and the lending rate at 12.25 percent.

Thursday's MPC meeting is the first of eight meetings scheduled for the year. According to the bank's program, the next meetings will be held on March 7, Apr. 25, June 7, July 24, Sept. 13, Oct. 25, and Dec. 13.