By Reuters Staff 3 Min Read LONDON, April 15 (Reuters) - Turkey’s central bank held rates steady at 19% as expected on Thursday in its first decision since President Tayyip Erdogan fired the hawkish former governor. But it dropped a pledge to raise them again if needed. JOHN HARDY SAXO BANK HEAD OF FX STRATEGY “They removed the reference to continued tightening of policy, obviously that was a relic of the previous leadership.” “Turkey is in a real bad spot in terms of attracting inflows and it is dealing with a massive COVID outbreak... We are seeing the lira weakening on the back of this and there is a likelihood that it continues.”