Ahead of today's Turkey central bank decision, consensus was expecting no change in either the benchmark repurchase rate (at 8.25%), nor the overnight lending and borrowing rates (at 11.25% and 7.50%, respectively). And then, out of the blue, the Turkish deputy Prime Minister was kind enough to inform markets precisely what non-consensus move the Turkish central bank will do today.
It's just a joke now: TURKEY SEES RATE CUT TOMORROW BY CENTRAL BANK, DEP. PM SAYS. And Hollande agrees?
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 19, 2015 [5]
Sure enough, moments ago we got confirmation that when it comes to "independent" central banks leaking information to so-called heads of state such as France's Francois Hollande [6], Turkey is not far behind.
- TURKEY'S CENTRAL BANK CUTS BENCHMARK REPO RATE TO 7.75%
- TURKEY CENBANK DECIDED ON MEASURED CUT IN REPO RATE
And while it kept its less relevant overnight rates unchanged, once again we saw that when it comes to "nudging" central banks (as in "Get to work, Mr Charimen"), and central banks in turn leaking decisions back to governments, it is a two-way street, and only the Swiss National Bank appears to have been exempt from front-running its decision by insolvent retail brokers. Well, at least until we get confirmation of Mrs. Kashya Hildebrand's trading tickets from last week.