As a quick and proactive response to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's call to convert foreign currencies intoTurkish Lira and buy gold to boost the value of the lira, the Borsa Istanbul (BIST) announced that it has converted all cash reserves into Turkish lira and will keep them in Turkish Lira deposits as of Dec. 2, 2016.
Speaking to Bloomberg, BIST Chair Himmet Karadağ said, "We exhaustively worked to convert dollar and euro-based tariffs across all sales and sectors into Turkish lira. In order to demonstrate our confidence in the Turkish Lira, we converted our cash reserves in our stocks into lira. We will soon initiate our work regarding other tariffs." When asked how long this recent change will continue, he replied, "There is no timeframe for the moment, but we will keep investing in assets in lira," stating that this decision should set an example for all public institutions.
At the end of 2015, BIST reported that the total amount of its cash reserves was $1.4 billion.
