Turkey's central bank on Thursday cut its key interest rate by three points points to 43%, returning down the path of monetary easing. The step marked the first rate reduction since April, when the bank hiked rates to 46% in the wake of the controversial arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, which sent the Turkish lira tumbling.

The central bank said it would lower its benchmark rate to 43% from 46%, restarting an easing cycle that had been disrupted by a political furor.

Britain signed a preliminary deal allowing Ankara to operate the jets while Germany approved delivery of 40 of them to Turkey, which has relied on both foreign purchases and its own defence industry projects, including domestic jets, to ramp up deterrence. Beyond the Eurofighters, Ankara is also in talks with Washington to purchase 40 F-16s.

Turkey and Britain have signed a memorandum of understanding to allow Ankara to be a user of Eurofighter Typhoon fighters, in a big step toward securing the procurement of the jets over which Turkey has been negotiating for years.

The United Kingdom and Turkey have signed a letter of intent to advance a potential deal to export Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Ankara, the countries' Defence Ministries announced on Wednesday. Turkey plans to purchase 40 of the British-assembled fighter aircraft.