Turkey's net FX reserves edge above $12bn as of May 7
- The reserves have emerged in recent months as a focus of what the political opposition calls government mismanagement. They plunged in 2019-2020 as state banks sold off $128 billion to stabilise the lira, which still fell 20% in 2020.
- Net forex reserves were around $41 billion at the end of 2019.
ANKARA: The Turkish central bank's net international reserves edged up to $12.083 billion as of May 7, up from $11.964 billion a week earlier, data on Monday showed.
The exchange rate used by Reuters on Monday was 8.3062.
The reserves have emerged in recent months as a focus of what the political opposition calls government mismanagement. They plunged in 2019-2020 as state banks sold off $128 billion to stabilise the lira, which still fell 20% in 2020.
Net forex reserves were around $41 billion at the end of 2019.
The central bank used swaps with local banks to backstop the FX interventions, an unorthodox policy that spooked foreign investors and raised the risk of a balance of payments crisis, analysts said.
Data showed the bank's outstanding swap transactions stood at $42.901 billion by Monday. The reserves are in deeply negative territory once the swaps are deducted.