ANKARA
The total reserves of the Turkish Central Bank decreased by $4.46 billion to $121.67 billion in the week January 24, the bank said.
The bank said Thursday its total reserves had decreased to $121.67 billion from $126.14 billion on January 17.
According to weekly Central Bank figures, the bank's gross foreign exchange reserves were down by $4.46 billion to $102.41 billion as of January 24.
Gold reserves did not change in the week, constituting $19.26 billion of the total reserves.
During the week, the Central Bank sold US dollars to halt a fall in the value of the Turkish Lira.
US$4.4 billion has been pumped into market
Turkey's Central Bank injected US$4.4 billion into the market on Friday, while offering a repo auction at a tender dated February 7, 2014.
The simple interest rate was set at 10 percent and the compound interest rate 10.51 percent.
On Thursday, the Central Bank more than doubled the borrowing rate from 3.5 percent to 8 percent and raised the lending rate from 7.75 percent to 12 percent.
Turkish banks' loan volume down to $462.9 billion
The volume of loans from the Turkish banking sector decreased to US$462.90 billion in one week as of January 24.
On January 17, the credit volume was US$467.6 billion.
The volume actually increased in terms of Turkish lira, but due to the exchange rate fluctuation, it shows the volume down in dollar terms.
In Turkish lira terms, the volume of loans from the Turkish banking sector increased to 1.045 trillion TL from 1.027 trillion TL as of January 24, an increase of 17.94 billion TL in a week.
The US dollar hit a historic high against the Turkish lira mid-January.
Late Tuesday, the Central Bank more than doubled the borrowing rate from 3.5 percent to 8 percent and raised the lending rate from 7.75 percent to 12 percent
englishnews@aa.com.tr
