Historic decline in reserve of Turkey’s Central Bank
The Central Bank’s net reserve, excluding swaps, was recorded at a historic low of minus US$ 55.7 billion, down $9 billion last week. The figures show that the bank made a substantial (backdoor) sale to lower exchange rates, during said period. While the issue of “how exchange rates fell on December 20th” kept causing debates, the Central Bank (CBRT) announced the change in its reserve figures. Accordingly, the CBRT’s gross reserve decreased by $ 5.7 billion to $110.8 billion from $116.5 billion in the week of December 17-24.
During same period, the bank’s net reserves decreased by $ 3.6 billion, from $ 12.2 billion to $ 8.6 billion. Excluding foreign currencies and gold held by the bank as loans and borrowings, the net reserve excluding swaps fell by $9 billion from minus 46.7 billion to minus 55.7 billion last week.
The minus figure of 55.7 billion dollars was the historical bottom level. Experts note that these figures show that the Central Bank played a role in the fall of exchange rates last week by making substantial (backdoor) interventions.
sozcu.com.tr/2021/ekonomi/merkez-bankasi-acikladi-rezervde-tarihi-dusus-6858498/
