ANKARA – Turkey's government will maintain its calls for lower interest rates following Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's victory in the country's first direct presidential election, the economy minister said on Monday. Turkey has emerged as a regional economic force during more than a decade under Erdogan as prime minister, his firm leadership following a long period of economic chaos and political drift in the nation of 77 million. But there are longer-term concerns about too sharp a concentration of power in the hands of a man whose views on the economy can be unorthodox - such as his conviction that high interest rates cause high inflation and his frequent demands that the central bank reduce them. Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci told Reuters in an interview that the central bank's core mandate for price stability should be expanded to include employment and growth, although he added this would not be a top priority for the government in the coming period. The need to consider additional factors beyond inflation could give the central bank more impetus for lowering rates. – Reuters
