Turkey’s central bank on Thursday cut its policy rate for the third consecutive month despite a plunging lira and an annual inflation rate that has soared over 83 percent. Turkey’s monetary policymakers are bucking the global trend of central banks raising interest rates to combat inflation, as high borrowing rates cool down the economy and prices. The latest decision comes after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the central bank would keep cutting rates every month for “as long as I am in power” — and despite inflation hitting 83.45 percent in September on an annual basis. Erdogan wants to lower interest rates to single digits by the end of the year as he prioritises economic growth eight months before a general election — which could promise to be the closest since he came to power nearly two decades ago. Turkish policymakers have insisted on following this unconventional economic model at the expense of an astronomical inflation. The central bank said Thursday it was cutting its one-week repo rate to 10.5 percent from 12 percent, with a surge in consumer prices it said was “driven by the lagged and indirect effects of rising energy costs” caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine. The interest rate cut was widely anticipated, but the 150 basis points cut was larger than expected after two 100 basis points moves in both August and September.