Turkish central bank’s reserves soar to new all-time high of $142.5B
The Turkish central bank’s total reserves increased $1.15 billion (TL 33.53 billion) last week to a new record of $142.53 billion, according to the official data revealed by the bank on Thursday.
Foreign currency exchange reserves rose by $89 million to $95.4 billion, while gold reserves with a rise of $265 million amounted to $47.13 billion as of Dec. 15, the data from the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) showed.
Accordingly, the bank’s official reserve assets in overall were up by 8.3% in November compared to the previous month, reaching $136.7 billion.
In the same period, foreign currency reserves rose by 11.2% to $82.9 billion and gold was up by 4.6% to $46.3 billion, the bank added.
The increase in total gross reserves between the end of May and the week ending Dec. 15 was $44.07 billion, corresponding to a surge of 44.8%.
The upward momentum in reserves persisted since June after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appointed respected veteran policymaker Mehmet Şimşek as Treasury and Finance minister and former Wall Street banker Hafize Gaye Erkan as the CBRT governor.
The new administration reversed a yearslong easing cycle and delivered aggressive interest rate hikes to cool demand and stem inflation, which runs at nearly 62%.
The bank earlier on Thursday hiked its one-week repo rate by another 250 basis points bringing it to 42.5%, but signaling it is nearing the end of a tightening cycle.
Investors have been signaling a renewed interest in the major emerging market economy following the May vote and shift in policymaking, while the new administration seeks to introduce them with its new medium-term program plan and fiscal policies.
Both Şimşek and Erkan who earlier this month met with investors in Spain are expected to travel to New York as part of the “Investor Day” event to be held on Jan. 11, where they are expected to make a presentation on monetary policy, inflation and the financing outlook.
