Modeling new monetary policy of the Central Bank of Republic of Turkey

Abstract

Central Bank of Republic of Turkey has started implementing a new monetary policy structure since May 2010. An interest rate corridor has been introduced as the bank's policy instrument. In this study, we evaluate the new policy using several VAR models to test whether Central Bank aims for inflation stabilization. Since interest rate corridor is a unique application firstly implemented by CBRT, no empirical study has been conducted on it yet. Based on Taylor Rule, a variety of reaction functions using policy interest rate, borrowing interest rate (Upper Band) and lending interest rate (Lower Band) are estimated. We also empirically investigate the functionality of gaps between bands and policy rate. Our results imply that Central Bank does not implement inflation targeting regime in the new structure. Instead, the Bank puts financial stability into its target basket and continues to respond developments regarding inflation in selective fashion. We additionally find that upper band responds to internal factors, whereas lower band responds to external factors.