Foreign exchange reserves of Turkish central bank rise to $108.6B

Foreign exchange reserves of the Turkish central bank increased to $108.6 billion at the end of June from $98.5 billion at the end of May, Turkish Minister of Finance and Treasury Mehmet Simsek wrote on his Twitter page, Report informs referring to Turkish media.

He noted that one of the main goals of the reform program is to improve the situation with international reserves.

“On May 26, the reserves of the Central Bank amounted to $98.5 billion, and by June 30 they already amounted to $108.6 billion. Over the same period, net reserves increased by $14.2 billion. Such a rapid increase in reserves inspires optimism,” he wrote.

Simsek stressed that the Ministry of Finance and Treasury will continue to implement a rational economic policy, as well as the search for new sources of external injections to quickly increase the reserves of the Central Bank.

Since the end of last week, the Turkish authorities have increased by 3 times - to $760 - the customs clearance duty for smartphones imported from abroad into the country, notary services have risen in price by 1.5 times, VAT has been increased from 18% to 20%, and taxes on various gambling grew.

The head of the Central Bank, Hafize Erkan, at a meeting with the chairpersons of the largest banks, announced the termination of support for the Turkish lira at the expense of the Central Bank's foreign exchange reserves, local media reported in early July.

Turkiye's central bank said in June that it would continue to gradually tighten monetary policy until the inflation outlook improves significantly. On June 22, for the first time in more than two years, the regulator raised the key rate to 15% from 8.5%, analysts had expected it at 21%. Meanwhile, in early July, the value of the Turkish national currency - the lira - renewed its historical low against the dollar and for the first time overcame the psychological mark of 26 lira per dollar.