The losses of Turkey's central bank following the arrest of opposition Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on March 19 on charges of corruption and terrorist ties could exceed $45 billion, the Sözcü newspaper reported in an economic review.
The central bank's reserves as of April 7 had decreased by $43 billion since March 19 and, after calculating the balance for April 8, could be over $2 billion higher. On April 4 alone, the last day of Turkey's week-long holiday for the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, $7.3 billion of the central bank's reserves were sold, the newspaper claimed. As of April 7, the reserves of the Turkish Central Bank amounted to 25 billion USD.
Non-residents have withdrawn nearly 10.5 billion USD from Turkey in the past two weeks. "A further reduction in the Central Bank's reserves would show that the panic in the markets has not been overcome. This, in turn, would mean that economic authorities are in for a tough time", the newspaper notes.
According to its information, within three weeks of Imamoglu's arrest, Turkey had used up all the Central Bank's reserves accumulated since September 2024. Sözcü does not rule out that the situation developing in the markets may force the Turkish Central Bank to reconsider its policy regarding the base interest rate towards raising it. The regulator's meeting to make a decision on the rate is scheduled for April 17. In March, it lowered it to 42.5% from 45% a month earlier.
Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek, commenting on the fluctuations in financial markets, said earlier that he did not expect them to have a long-term effect.