(Bloomberg) — Turkey’s central bank is likely to keep its key interest rate on hold for an eighth straight month this week, although policymakers could signal the start of an easing cycle as soon as December.

The monetary policy committee will leave the one-week repo rate unchanged at 50% on Thursday, according to all economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Still, politicians are expected to tone down their language in the statement accompanying the decision, signaling that a downward move may be imminent.

The political outlook has been clouded in recent months due to higher-than-expected inflation prints in September and October. Many analysts pushed predictions of a rate cut until next year after publishing these data, having previously penciled in November.

But despite appearing to commit to high interest rates at the last policy meeting, central bank governor Fatih Karahan adopted a different tone earlier this month, while revising up inflation forecasts for this year and beyond.

The changes suggested a “slightly less hawkish monetary policy stance,” according to Deutsche Bank analysts including Ankit Jain. The lender, which had predicted a rate cut in January, subsequently changed its call to next month.

The last MPC meeting of the year is scheduled for December 26.

Economists Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley continues to believe that the first rate cut will not happen until January.

Annual inflation eased to 48.6% in October, and the central bank estimates it will drop to 44% by the end of the year. However, policymakers prefer to look at seasonally adjusted monthly prices, and Bloomberg Economics sees a “significant fall” for that measure in November. That could pave the way for cuts to begin in December, Bloomberg Turkey economist Selva Bahar Baziki said.

With interest rates at 50%, companies are becoming more impatient. The influential lobby group Musiad joined calls for a cut earlier this week, saying there should be a “symbolic” one next month, complaining that the cost of doing business is too expensive.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, known for his aversion to high borrowing costs, also spoke on monetary policy after months of silence, giving a somewhat cryptic message that “both inflation and borrowing costs will fall.”

Erdogan has pushed central banks to cut interest rates earlier — regardless of inflation — to spur economic growth and has removed those that were not on the line.

With a debate on next year’s minimum wage increase looming, more attention is being paid to complementary fiscal measures to bring down inflation. Karahan said price increases in some sectors stem from factors over which monetary policy has little control.

Finance and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek has admitted that further fiscal measures must be taken.

Next year’s minimum wage increase, likely to be announced in December, will be key. Deutsche Bank economists say investors would see a rise of around 25% as appropriate and would be concerned about anything above 30%.

On Wednesday, Erdogan promised that wage increases will continue to outpace inflation next year and that workers’ purchasing power will be protected.

–With help from Joel Rinneby.

(Updates with President Erdogan’s comments on raising the minimum wage.)

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