Nov 2nd 2019ISTANBULTURKEY’S PRESIDENT, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, once called high interest rates “the mother of all evil”. Murat Uysal, its new central-bank governor, must then be close to angelic. Since Mr Erdogan sacked Mr Uysal’s predecessor four months ago for refusing to slash interest rates, he has cut three times, by a cumulative ten percentage points (see chart 1). The latest cut, of 2.5 percentage points on October 24th, was more than double market expectations.After last year’s aggressive tightening, easing now makes some sense. Inflation is back in single digits, after passing 25% last autumn. The lira has partially recovered from a battering that had pushed domestic prices up. In early October America threatened sanctions in response to Turkey’s offensive in Syria. The lira slumped, but after America brokered a ceasefire deal on October 17th, it steadied again. It strengthened further when Turkey’s and Russia’s presidents signed a similar agreement. That gave the bank room for the most recent cut.Choose us for news analysis that respects your time and intelligenceSubscribe to The EconomistWe filter out the noise of the daily news cycle and analyse the trends that matterWe give you rigorous, deeply researched and fact-checked journalism. That’s why Americans named us their most trusted news source in 2017Available wherever you are—in print, digital and, uniquely, in audio, fully narrated by professional broadcastersThis website adheres to all nine of NewsGuard‘s standards of credibility and transparency.ORContinue reading this articleRegister with an email address