Turkey: Central Bank reserves at $84.5B in October

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) – The Turkish Central Bank’s official reserve assets grew 6.1% month-on-month to reach $84.5 billion in October, according to data released on Friday.

Foreign currency reserves – in convertible foreign currencies – increased by 12.4% to hit $40.8 billion, according to the bank’s international reserves and foreign currency liquidity report.

The bank’s gold reserves – including gold deposits and, if appropriate, gold swapped – stood at $42.1 billion in October, up 0.8% from the previous month.

The bank’s overall reserves were down from $104.6 billion in October 2019.

- Liability side

Short-term predetermined net drains of the central government and the Central Bank – foreign currency loans, securities, and foreign exchange deposit accounts of residents abroad – rose by 1.3% to reach $26 billion.

According to the report, $20.7 billion of this amount was principal repayments and $5.3 billion was interest repayments.

The contingent short-term net drains on foreign currency totaled $38.6 billion last month, falling by 3.2% from the previous month.

According to the bank’s definition, the contingent short-term net drains on foreign currency consist of “collateral guarantees on debt due within one year” and “other contingent liabilities,” which are the banking sector’s required reserves in blocked accounts in foreign currency and gold, and the letters of credit items on the Central Bank’s balance sheet.