Economist Uğur Gürses: 100 billion dollars in reserves were depleted to win elections over the last 8 years

As of November 14, the Central Bank's gross foreign exchange reserves reached their highest level in the last 8 years at 130 billion 572 million dollars.

The entry of the 2.5 billion dollar bond issuance, which the Ministry of Treasury and Finance organized on November 6, into the treasury was also effective in this. In the dollar bond borrowing, which the Ministry carried out for the first time in international capital markets since April, a 2.5 billion dollar 5-year lease certificate (sukuk) was issued with a demand of over 7 billion dollars, also influenced by the 8.5 percent annual interest rate.

The gross foreign exchange reserves, which were 130 billion 867 million dollars on February 9, 2015, had never come this close to this figure until today. The all-time record was 138 billion 140 million dollars on December 28, 2013.

Uğur Gürses's assessments are as follows:

IN 2015 THERE WAS A 40 BILLION DOLLAR FOREIGN CURRENCY SURPLUS, NOW THERE IS A 55 BILLION DOLLAR DEFICIT

Economist Uğur Gürses also brought this issue to the agenda on his X account. Emphasizing that gross foreign exchange reserves have reached their highest level in 8 years, Gürses said in his post with the graph below, "However, the difference between today and 8 years ago is that the Central Bank has a net foreign currency deficit of 55 billion dollars. While the bank's gross reserves were 130 billion dollars in 2015, there was a net foreign currency surplus of 40 billion dollars. What has changed in these 8 years is this; it means a reserve depletion of approximately 100 billion dollars was created. What was it done for? This wreckage was created to win elections."

ACCORDING TO THE CALCULATION, 226 BILLION DOLLARS IN FOREIGN CURRENCY WAS SOLD THROUGH THE 'BACK DOOR' IN 20 MONTHS

The Central Bank's "back door" sales to lower foreign exchange rates, which are thought to have ended with the new economic management, depleting reserves, was a topic that came to the agenda quite frequently before the elections. According to the calculation made by Bloomberg economist Selva Baziki at the beginning of October, the total of the Central Bank's "back door" sales for the purpose of intervening in the foreign exchange market in the 20 months between January 2022 and August 2023 reached 226 billion dollars.

Despite the record in gross foreign exchange reserves, the net foreign exchange reserve is still following a horizontal course when the 6.3 billion dollar special drawing rights (SDR) from the IMF in 2021, swaps, debts, etc., are excluded.