Turkey has ended its foreign-exchange protected deposit scheme, a controversial program that shielded lira deposits from currency depreciation at an estimated cost of $60 billion, Reuters reported.
The Central Bank of Turkey announced on Friday that it has stopped opening and renewing accounts under the scheme, effective August 23. Existing accounts will remain valid until maturity.
The bank also revised rules on reserve requirement remuneration and commission practices tied to the program.
The scheme, known as KKM, was launched in late 2021 after a currency meltdown caused the lira to lose 44 percent of its value that year. It allowed individuals and businesses to place lira in special accounts guaranteed against exchange rate losses.
Since then, the lira has weakened 29 percent in 2022, 37 percent in 2023 and 16 percent in 2024. Deposits under the program peaked at $140 billion but have since dwindled to $11 billion.
Turkish officials had previously said the program would end by late 2025, but the phase-out comes earlier than expected, marking another step in abandoning unorthodox policies blamed for fueling the lira crisis.