Turkish Central Bank reserves stand at $117.8B in August

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) – The Turkish Central Bank’s total reserves stood at $117.8 billion in August, marking an 11.3% increase compared to the previous month, the bank announced on Tuesday.

Official reserve assets jumped 11.3%, according to the bank's international reserves and foreign currency liquidity report.

In August, foreign currency reserves – in convertible foreign currencies – rose to $69.3 billion, a monthly rise of 10.6%, while gold reserves decreased by 2.4% to $40.6 billion.

Short-term predetermined net drains of the central government and the CBRT – foreign currency loans, securities, and FX deposit liabilities – up 14.5% this August from a month earlier, reaching $23.1 billion.

Of this amount, $17.5 billion belongs to principal repayments and $5.6 billion to interest repayments, it added.

"Additionally, outstanding FX and gold liabilities arising from the CBRT’s financial derivative activities with resident and non-resident banks recorded $67.2 billion, of which $28.6 billion is due in one month," it said.

There are two items that will increase the bank's gross reserves in the coming period.

With the bank's latest required reserve regulation, the amount of foreign currency held by banks at the Central Bank is expected to increase by $3.4 billion to over $65 billion.

In addition, the swap agreement with South Korea, which was signed over a month ago, has not yet entered the accounts.

With these two developments, the total reserve is estimated to reach $125.5 billion.