The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkiye cut its policy rate by 100 basis points on 22 October 2026, taking the one week repo auction rate from 37 per cent to 36 per cent. It is the first reduction after five consecutive meetings at which the Monetary Policy Committee left the rate unchanged.
The committee moved two other rates by the same margin in the same decision. The overnight lending rate fell by one point to 39 per cent and the overnight borrowing rate fell by one point to 34.5 per cent. The three rates therefore sit at three different levels, and the policy rate cut should not be read as having pulled the corridor to a single number.
The decision was published as press release number 2026-45 on the bank's own site, which is the source for every figure above.
What it means for corporate borrowers
A 100 basis point move at the policy rate of a G20 economy resets the cost of lira funding across the whole corporate book, and it does so with a lag that most Turkish treasurers will already have modelled. The immediate effect is on working capital facilities repriced off the policy corridor rather than on term debt, which is why the overnight lending rate matters as much as the headline: it sets the ceiling at which banks can fund themselves when deposits are tight.
For exporters the calculation runs the other way. Turkish manufacturers selling into the Gulf, the Caucasus and North Africa have spent an extended period competing on price against a high domestic cost of capital, and a loosening cycle changes the arithmetic on deferred capital equipment purchases before it changes anything about demand.
The signal in the sequencing
The five holds that preceded this cut are the part of the record that carries information. A central bank that pauses repeatedly and then moves by a full point is describing a judgement about the durability of disinflation rather than reacting to a single data print. Boards with lira exposure should read the five holds and this cut as one sequence, and should treat the pace of any further easing, rather than the level reached this month, as the variable worth tracking into the next committee meeting.
