Bankers calculate that the Turkish Central Bank (CBRT) sold USD 4.1 billion during last week. Although the Central Bank bought foreign currency in December, it could not avoid losing reserves in the first two months of this year. According to bankers’ calculations, net international reserves fell by USD 5.9 billion last week, of which USD 4.1 billion was realized as foreign exchange outflows.
From the beginning of the month until the end of the week of February 23, the Central Bank sold USD 4 billion of foreign currency, according to bankers’ calculations, although mostly to cover the return of currency-protected deposits. According to the Central Bank’s analytical balance sheet, net reserves decreased by USD 5.9 billion in the week of February 23, and USD 4.1 billion of this decrease was realized as foreign exchange sales. It is calculated that gross foreign exchange reserves decreased by USD 2.4 billion to USD 131.8 billion.
Thus, while the total reserves have been depleting for 6 weeks in a row, the dollar and euro basket exchange rate rose by around 3 percent against the Turkish lira throughout February. Bankers pointed out that the demand for foreign currency by domestic residents also continued.
According to calculations made by banking sector sources, although FX reserve indicators have been on a downward trend in recent weeks, there is still a significant improvement compared to the middle of last year. However, when compared with short-term external debt stock and import data, FX reserves are still below levels that can be considered adequate according to international norms.
Analyzing that the net reserves excluding swaps also decreased by 4.1 billion dollars compared to the week of February 16 to – USD 46 billion, banking sector sources pointed out that total reserves decreased compared to the levels of USD 145.5 billion on December 22, 2023, net international reserves USD 40.1 billion, and net reserves excluding swaps – USD 36.4 billion on the same date. Since December 22, 2023, total reserves have decreased by USD 13.65 billion, net reserves excluding swaps by USD 10 billion and net international reserves by USD 17.5 billion.
