Turkish lira

Turkey on May 11 removed foreign exchange transactions bans with Turkish lira for three foreign banks -- BNP Paribas, Citibank, and UBS.

After banks fulfilled their Turkish lira commitments, the restrictions were removed, according to the information given by Turkey's Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK).

The Turkish government's steps to support the economy in the face of the coronavirus pandemic have reached a value of 200 billion Turkish Liras ($28.7 billion), Finance Minister Berat Albayrak has said.

"The total value of the steps we have taken so far has reached 200 billion lira," Albayrak said in a video posted on his Twitter account on April 25.

"There are no serious articles in the economic package for workers and employers," said Enes Ozkan, an economist at Istanbul University.

The crisis, he said, would have "serious effects on the already-wounded Turkish economy."

The government can print money, but it should be used only for the fight against the pandemic, Faik Öztrak, deputy chair and the spokesperson of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), has said.

Öztrak also urged the government to prepare a new medium-term economic program to tackle the worsening economic conditions.

Turkey's Treasury borrowed 4.2 billion Turkish liras (some $650 million) from domestic markets on March 24.

Some 3.6 billion Turkish liras (around $560 million) of three-year Turkish lira overnight reference rate (TLREF)-indexed bonds - new issuance - to be settled on March 25 and mature on June 21, 2023, were sold in an auction, the Treasury and Finance Ministry said on March 24.

The Turkish Central Bank (TCMB) injected 29 billion Turkish Liras (nearly $4.61 billion) into the domestic market at a one-week repo auction on March 13, with bids amounting to 62.25 billion liras.
The simple interest rate applied was 10.75 percent, whereas the compound interest rate was 11.34 percent.

The Turkish Treasury's cash balance posted a deficit of 130.5 billion Turkish liras (some $23 billion) in 2019, according to official data released on Jan. 8.  

The Treasury's cash revenues totaled 897 billion Turkish liras ($157.9 billion) last year, rising 16% from the previous year.  

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has invested 30.8 million Turkish lira ($5.2 million) in lira-denominated bonds of a top Turkish supermarket chains, Migros.

"The new Turkish lira-denominated bond will be listed on Borsa Istanbul and its proceeds will reduce the company's foreign currency exposure," the bank announced on Dec. 23.

Turkey and Russia signed an agreement to increase the use of local currencies -- Turkish Lira and Russian Ruble -- in bilateral trade, the Russian Finance Ministry announced on Oct. 8.

The most expensive entrance fee to a Turkish museum or archaeological site has been fixed as 72 Turkish Liras ($12.60) after the ticket prices were increased 50 percent on average as of July 15.