According to data released by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT), net international reserves fell by $5.14 billion to $34.95 billion and total reserves by $4.39 billion to $141.06 billion in the week ended December 29.
A banker stated that many factors were effective in the decline in gross and net reserves, but the decrease in the volume of swap transactions with domestic banks by about 4 billion dollars and the Treasury’s Eurobond repayment of 2 billion dollars were effective in the decline.
Total reserves, which include gold and gross foreign exchange reserves, have recorded the sharpest decline since May. The value of the gold reserve increased by $335 million last week, while the gross foreign exchange reserve fell by $4.73 billion to $92.83 billion. Net international reserves, on the other hand, recorded the sharpest decline since December 2021.
CBRT’s FX reserves have been on an upward trend since June after the new administration took over, albeit with occasional declines. The obligation to sell export revenues to the CBRT supports the reserves. With last week’s decline, net reserves have recovered to $39.4 billion since the beginning of June, while gross reserves have recovered to $42.6 billion.
Although net reserves recovered, net reserves excluding swaps, which are calculated by deducting the amounts coming from swap auctions, continued to be in deep negative territory. According to bankers’ calculations, net reserves excluding swaps amounted to -37 billion dollars last week.