The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey's (CBRT) foreign exchange reserves reached $112 billion as of April 30, the bank announced yesterday. Official reserve assets rose 1.5 percent from $110.3 billion at the end of March, according to the CBRT's international reserves and foreign currency liquidity report.
In April, foreign currency reserves in convertible foreign currencies stood at $85.3 billion, marking a 2.3-percent increase on a monthly basis. Gold reserves - including gold deposits and, if appropriate, gold swapped - fell 1 percent last month to $25.1 billion, compared to the previous month. According to the official figures, the CBRT's total reserves recorded a 9-percent increase, compared to $102.7 billion at the end of April 2017. Over the last decade, the bank's official reserve assets have increased by nearly 45 percent. In mid-December 2013, the bank's total reserves saw a historic high at nearly $136 billion, of which some $21 billion was in gold reserves. The bank noted that short-term predetermined net drains of the central government and the CBRT - foreign currency loans, securities and foreign exchange deposit accounts of residents abroad within the CBRT - decreased by 7.3 percent last month compared to March, down to $11 billion.
"Of this amount, $6.8 billion belongs to principal repayments and $4.2 billion to interest repayments," said the Central Bank. "Regarding the maturity breakdown of the principal and interest payments, $1.2 billion is due in one month, $0.8 billion in 2-3 months, $9 billion in 4-12 months." The CBRT report also revealed that contingent short-term net drains on foreign currency stood at $65 billion in April, dropping 2.6 percent compared to the previous month. According to the bank's definition, contingent short-term net drains on foreign currency consists of "collateral guarantees on debt due within one year" and "other contingent liabilities," which are the banking sector's required reserves in blocked accounts in foreign currency and gold, and letters of credit items on CBRT's balance sheet.
