ANKARA, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) — Turkish central bank cut the benchmark rate by 1.5 percentage points to 10.5 percent on Thursday, a major decrease this year despite high inflation.

“It is critically important that financial conditions remain supportive to preserve the growth momentum in industrial production and the positive trend in employment in a period of increasing uncertainties regarding global growth as well as a further escalation of geopolitical risks,” said a statement by the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee.

Accordingly, the committee decided to reduce the policy rate by 150 basis points, the statement said.

The bank signaled that a similar rate cut would be made in November and that the interest rate reduction cycle would come to an end.

“The Committee evaluated taking a similar step in the following meeting and ending the rate cut cycle,” it said.

The bank had kept the interest rate at 14 percent for eight months and lowered it by 1 percentage point each in August and September, while Türkiye’s annual inflation hit 83.45 percent in September, the highest in 24 years.

After the dramatic plummet in 2021, the lira lost some 55 percent against the U.S. dollar since the Turkish central bank embarked on its easing cycle, making it one of the worst-performing currencies over the period.