Turkish Central Bank Int'l Reserves At $86.3B In April

The official reserves of the Turkish Central Bank reached $86.3 billion as of the end of April, the bank announced Thursday.

The April figure showed that total reserve assets slipped 6.3% from the previous month.

Foreign currency reserves – in convertible foreign currencies – fell 15.5% to $50.1 billion during the same period.

Last month, the bank's gold reserves – including gold deposits and, if appropriate, gold swapped – surged 10.8% month-on-month to $34.8 billion.

On an annual basis, the bank's official reserves declined 7%, down from $92.8 billion at the end of April 2019.

Liability side

Short-term predetermined net drains of the central government and the Central Bank – foreign currency loans, securities, and foreign exchange deposit accounts of residents abroad within the bank – posted a 0.6% monthly decrease in April, reaching $22.3 billion, the bank said.

"Of this amount, $17.3 billion was in principal repayments and $5 billion in interest payments," the bank said.

The bank also said the contingent short-term net drains on foreign currency amounted to $30.2 billion last month, down 7.4% from end-March. -