Turkey’s central bank will hold an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Feb. 3, according to a newspaper advertisement on Tuesday, with issues on the agenda to include the advance payment of profits to the Treasury and the distribution of reserve funds.
Turkey has ramped up fiscal support for the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic and volatility following a slide in the Turkish lira’s value and soaring inflation.
The EGM announcement was made in the Dünya newspaper.
Accounts published by the central bank showed an adjustment of about TL 124 billion ($9.37 billion) in its valuation account, a component of the central bank’s balance sheet, between Dec. 30 and Dec. 31. The account ended the year at 54 billion lira.
Another account called “other items,” which includes the bank’s profits, was meanwhile adjusted by around TL 130 billion ($9.78 billion), to stand at TL 60.2 billion lira on Dec. 31.
Economists and bankers said the changes could allow the central bank to record a profit in 2021 despite the lira slide toward year-end. Any profits are typically transferred in April to the Treasury, the central bank’s main shareholder.
The valuation account contains unrealized gains and losses arising from the revaluation of foreign currencies, gold and other assets and liabilities, based on price changes of the lira and gold on international markets.
The central bank had transferred funds to state coffers in January 2019 and 2020 after extraordinary general meetings, but it did not do so last year.
The lira has fluctuated significantly in the past weeks, falling to a record low of more than 18 to the dollar last month, before rebounding sharply to just over 10 and then settling at current levels just under 14 to the United States currency.
The rebound came after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan last month unveiled a scheme to encourage savers to convert foreign exchange deposits to lira, under which the state compensates depositors for losses in value due to lira depreciation.
As of Friday night, more than TL 131 billion has been deposited in the lira accounts under the government scheme, Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati said on Saturday. Last week, he had said some 15% of the deposits came from foreign currency accounts, with some 300,000 people participating in the scheme.
