The Central Bank of Turkey's reserves have fallen from $68.2 billion to $33.5 billion since March 19, when Istanbul's opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was detained. The losses as of April 3, when the week-long weekend marking the Muslim holiday of Ramadan began in Turkey, amounted to $34.7 billion.
The head of the Turkish Central Bank, Fatih Karahan, earlier announced that $25 billion had been sold during a three-day market intervention undertaken to stabilize the Turkish lira exchange rate after the arrest of the Istanbul mayor on charges of corruption and ties to terrorists. On March 19, Turkey's national currency fell by more than 11%, and trading on the Istanbul Stock Exchange was halted several times.
As the publication notes in its economic review, the current situation on the markets may nullify the Turkish authorities' efforts to reduce inflation to 24% by the end of the year. In addition, it will be difficult to maintain it at the level of 30%, as predicted by participants in a survey conducted by the Central Bank in March. The article also states that inflation in Turkey will inevitably increase in April, including due to the increase in the cost of electricity. Turkey's inflation rate in March was 38.10% year-on-year, down from 39.05% in February, the National Statistical Institute (TÜİK) said earlier.
Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek, commenting on the financial market fluctuations, said they would not have a long-term effect. "It is clear that inflation is decreasing and will continue to decrease. I do not think the recent unrest will have long-term consequences. The depreciation of the lira against the dollar by about 3-3.5% may have a limited effect in April, but if we look at the medium term - a year from now - it will lead to disinflation. We have a goal - to reduce inflation to a single digit in 2027," the minister was quoted as saying by the TRT Haber television channel.