Turkey Central Bank Asks Lenders to Limit Dollar Purchases

Turkey’s central bank has asked local lenders to limit the amount of dollar purchases they make in the interbank market to ease pressure on the lira, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. 

The monetary authority verbally informed some lenders last week that they have been assigned a daily limit on how much foreign currency they should buy on the interbank market after meeting their needs under the so-called KKM program, the people said, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. KKM is a government-backed lira savings scheme that compensates participants for swings in the exchange rate.