Turkey to boost precious-metals storage

ANKARA (AA) – A new facility which could boost Turkey’s precious-metals storage capacity tenfold will come into operation soon, the head of Borsa Istanbul said on Friday.

In an exclusive interview, Himmet Karadag said the new facility – with the capacity to hold up to 1,600 tons precious metals – will be near Goldencity, the largest such integrated production and trade center in the Middle East region.

Saying that the Central Bank of Turkey currently has 479 tons of gold in its reserves, Karadag added they are in close contact with the central bank about how much of these reserves may be stored at the new facility.

“After increasing physical capacity we will be able to work with Central Bank and other members of the market more comfortably and be able to hold more gold reserves in Turkey,” he said.

Regarding the deepening of capital markets and Borsa Istanbul, Karadag said diversification of financial products is vital. He also said the establishment of standards for issuance of Islamic finance products from all traditional banks beside participation banks is required to attract foreign investors, especially from the Gulf.

However, Karadag added the absence of opportunities to take shares from Turkey’s mega projects through financial instruments is a deficiency which needed to be addressed:

“We absolutely need to meet with undertakers of those projects and have them come into stock exchange and capital markets. There is a huge potential.”