There was no intervention and Turkey’s public banks or institutions did not sell any United States dollars on the night of Dec. 20, when a new economic model was announced and the lira recorded a massive rebound, the country’s treasury and finance minister said Monday.

“There were no interventions that night, neither from public banks or anyone else,” Nureddin Nebati said during a televised interview with broadcaster A Haber.

“Individuals raced that night to sell their dollars, thanks to the confidence created by our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,” Nebati noted. “Dec. 20 will be referred to as one of the most important days of Turkey from now on.”

The lira surged some 50% last week after announcing a lira deposits protection plan. Some media reports had claimed the increase was also supported by billions of dollars of state-backed market interventions. Nebati rebuffed the claims.

Erdoğan unveiled last week a scheme for savers to convert foreign exchange (forex) deposits into lira, under which the Treasury and the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) would reimburse losses on converted lira deposits against foreign currencies, sparking the lira’s biggest rally.

According to a CBRT document sent to banks on Monday, it will support these forex-protected lira deposit accounts by not applying required reserve ratios on them. It will impose a higher commission on banks where the transfer from forex accounts to lira accounts does not exceed a certain level.

Last week’s rally brought the Turkish currency back to mid-November levels. Last Monday, it had fallen to an all-time low of 18.4 lira per U.S. dollar.

Erdoğan on Friday said Turks showed confidence in the local currency and Nebati said deposits increased by TL 38 billion after the anti-dollarization plan announcement.

Erdoğan said the government had burst a bubble in the foreign exchange market by taking steps to protect the lira deposits against volatility.

Nebati also refuted reports that the new economic model would put a significant burden on the Treasury, saying that the first balance sheets would be seen in three months.

He also reiterated Turkey’s determination to stick to free-market economic principles.

“We are 100% loyal to the free market economy. The foreign exchange regime is something we can never give up,” he noted.

Turkey will have ended 2021 with double-digit gross domestic product (GDP) growth, Nebati noted.

The economy grew 7.4% year-over-year in the third quarter, after a massive 22% expansion in the second quarter, rebounding after a sharp slowdown a year earlier due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The main priority ahead is inflation, said Nebati, stressing the determination and expectations to see prices coming down significantly in 2022.

Annual inflation accelerated to 21.31% last month, the highest reading since November 2018, with staples such as food and gas prices recently jumping.

According to the central bank, which has slashed its key policy rate by 500 basis points to 14% since September, inflation pressure is temporary and necessary to expand economic growth and balance the current account.