Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.17
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
The Central Bank of Turkey is preparing a package of measures for reducing the country's economic risks, head of Turkey's Central Bank Erdem Bashchi said, Turkish Sabah newspaper reported on Feb.17.
Moreover, a special action plan is being prepared for preventing any decrease of Turkish lira's exchange rate, according to the Central Bank head.
After the Turkish Central Bank attempted to stop further depreciation of the national currency, the exchange rate of the dollar compared to the Turkish lira reduced to 2.1845 Turkish liras per U.S. dollar.
The Turkish Central Bank increased three key interest rates to stop further depreciation of the lira rate on Jan. 28 which was the day before the official exchange rate reached a record high of 2.3142 liras.
The weekly repo rate was increased from 4.5 to 10 percent.
Moreover, the Turkish Central Bank increased the rate on loans from 7.75 percent to 12 percent, while the rate on deposits went from 3.5 to eight percent.
Earlier, the Turkish Central Bank injected $2 billion to preserve the lira rate at a stable level, but the attempt was unsuccessful.
A dollar rate increase is being observed in Russia and Kazakhstan after the National Bank refused to maintain the tenge rate compared to the dollar and also in Latin America.
Translated by L.Z.
Edited by S.M.