ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s central bank lowered its key interest rate by 2.5 percentage points to 47.5% Thursday, carrying out its first rate cut in nearly two years as it tries to control soaring inflation.

The bank’s Monetary Policy Committee said in a statement that the overall inflation trend was “flat” in November and indicators suggest that it is likely to decline in December. Demand within the country was slowing, helping to reduce inflation, it said.

Inflation in Turkey surged in recent years because of declining foreign reserves as well as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s unconventional economic policy of lowering rates as a way to tame inflation — which he later abandoned. Inflation stood at 47% in November, after having peaked at 85% in late 2022. — Associated Press