- Net reserves fall $35 bln since İran war started
- Turkey sold and swapped 50 tonnes of gold last week
- Turkey sells gold alongside $26 bln in forex sales
ISTANBUL, March 26 (Reuters) - The Turkish Central Bank's gold reserves fell by almost 50 tonnes to 772 tonnes last week, bank data showed, marking the largest weekly drop since August of 2018 amid fallout from the Iran war.
The central bank sold about $3 billion worth of gold last week for the first time, adding to the $26 billion in foreign currency sales it has carried out since the Iran war began nearly a month ago, reflecting steps by authorities to stabilise markets.
According to calculations made by bankers based on central bank data released on Thursday, the central bank sold approximately 22 tonnes of gold last week. The amount of gold-backed Turkish lira and foreign currency swaps was some 31 tonnes last week, the bankers said.
Market volatility after Israel and the United States attacked Iran on February 28 accelerated forex sales, leading to a sustained fall in the central bank's reserves due to both forex sales and lower global gold prices.
Separately, bankers calculate that last week's roughly 10% drop in gold prices caused the value of the bank's gold reserves to fall by nearly $8 billion. As a result, the value of gold within the central bank's total reserves declined by $18 billion last week, driven by gold swaps, sales and the fall in global gold prices.
Gross foreign exchange reserves rose by $5.8 billion last week. Total reserves, calculated as the sum of the two, fell by $12.2 billion to $177.5 billion.
The central bank declined to comment on the figures.
Reporting by Can Sezer and Nevzat Devranoglu; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Jonathan Spicer
Source: Reuters