BY SEBNEM TURHAN
The recent sharp rise in foreign exchange (FX) rates points to a heavy bill. In particular, the burden of the public in FX-protected TRY deposit accounts (KKM) and the TRY equivalent of foreign debts increase in parallel with the rise in FX rates. Although the size of KKM accounts increased in TRY, it decreased from USD 125.3bn to USD 121.6bn due to the rise in FX rates as of June 2, according to the data of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK). Economist Ugur Gurses emphasized that the cost of KKM of the Treasury and the Central Bank increased by TRY 300bn after the FX rate increases in his approximate calculation as the best scenario. The share of KKM and FX deposits in banks, in total deposits increased to 65% as of June 2. On the other hand, FX deposits of domestic residents decreased by USD 1bn, as of June 2, according to the weekly data of the Central Bank. While FX deposits of real persons decreased by USD 740m, FX deposits of legal entities decreased by USD 310m. A USD 206m decrease in FX deposits and USD 552m in precious metal deposit accounts of real persons also drew attention.
