The Turkish Central Bank’s international net reserves suffered a further decrease of $1 billion last week, according to the T24 news website, falling to $25.85 billion.
The bank’s net international reserves fell by $6.3 billion in the two weeks through March 15 to $28.5 billion, Bloomberg reported on March 22, adding that officials did not disclose the reason behind the plunge.
Central bank governor Murat Çetinkaya on Monday played down global investor concerns about the reserves.
According to Reuters, Çetinkaya said recent fluctuations in the bank’s forex reserves were not abnormal. He added that it was important to consider medium-term trends when looking at reserve levels and that there was no deterioration in any parameter of reserve effectiveness.
Analysts said the governor’s comments did not fully convince markets, Reuters reported.
Turkey has been experiencing a recession since a currency crisis hit the economic outlook of the country last summer.