Turkiye’s gold imports leaped more than 1,700 percent in September from the same month of 2021 to stand at 39,000 kilograms, according to data from Borsa Istanbul’s Precious Metals and Diamond Markets.
This marked the highest level since January 2010, when gold imports stood at 44,210 kilograms.
Turkiye’s gold imports this year amounted to 140,126 kilograms.
Silver imports also rose from 36,417 kilograms in August last year to a little more than 68,000 kilograms in August 2022.
Tuna Çetinkaya, deputy general manager at Info Investment, links the strong increase in gold imports to a regulation that requires people to submit IDs when buying,selling foreign currencies in transactions above $1,000.
“This regulation led people or entities with large FX demand to use gold instead of Turkish Liras in foreign currency transactions,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank boosted its gold purchase in August, adding another 9 tons of gold to its reserves, according to data from the World Gold Council.
The Central Bank’s gold holdings have risen by 84 tons since the start of the year to 478 tons, marking the highest level since the second quarter of 2020.
Turkiye’s gold imports stood at 55,950 kilograms last year, up from 291,309 kilograms in 2020.
The highest imports were in 2017, when Turkiye imported 361,000 kilograms of gold.