The Central Bank’s net foreign exchange reserves, including swaps, decreased by $4.5 billion.
According to bankers’ calculations, net reserves fell significantly last week, falling by around $4.5 billion, most of which occurred before the Central Bank’s interest rate hike. However, with the decision taken by the Monetary Policy Committee on the following Friday, the Central Bank became a net buyer for the first time after February 19, with $0.2 billion, according to the calculations made by bankers from daily data.
According to the news of Sebnem Turhan from Ekonomim, net reserves decreased by around $4.5 billion last week, a significant part of which was before the Central Bank’s (CBRT) interest rate increase. However, according to the Monetary Policy Committee’s statement on the following Friday, the Central Bank became a net buyer for the first time after February 19, with $0.2 billion.
Four bankers consulted by Reuters calculated that net reserves, which were announced as $19.6 billion the previous week, decreased in the range of $4.4-$4.6 billion in the week of March 22. Accordingly, the net reserve will decrease to approximately $15.1 billion. Last week, the CBRT increased interest rates by 500 basis points, which created a surprise effect in the markets.
When looking at the details of the data, bankers pointed out that almost all of the reserve losses occurred in the first three days of the week, that is, before the CBRT’s interest rate decision. According to bankers’ calculations, CBRT’s total reserves decreased by approximately $4.1 billion last week, falling to $123.8 billion. Calculations show that net reserves excluding swaps decreased by approximately $5.5 billion last week, reaching around minus $65 billion.
Source: Patronlardunyasi / Prepared by Irem Yildiz