Turkey cuts bank rate even as it grapples with earthquake

Turkey’s central bank has resumed its policy of lowering a key interest rate, even as the country grapples with high inflation and the aftermath of a devastating earthquake. The bank on Thursday cut the benchmark policy rate by 0.5 percentage point, down to 8.5%. Previously it had slashed the rate by 5 percentage points - down to 9% - between August and November, but had left rates unchanged since then. The magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck parts of Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6 has killed more than 43,500 people in Turkey and destroyed 164,000 buildings. The bank said the earthquake would not impact Turkey’s economy in the medium term.