Turkish Central Bank said to be buying millions of dollars every day at Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar

Duvar English

The Turkish Central Bank is taking 5 billion liras in iron safes on wheels every day to Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar and getting 260 million U.S. dollars in return, according to reporting by journalist Yener Karadeniz from the online news outlet Ekonomim.

The Central Bank officials are getting the U.S. dollar from the foreign exchange bureaus, with such an incident said to be a first in the bank’s history. The money is reportedly being transferred in official cars that belong to the Interior Ministry.

Grand Bazaar sources told journalist Karadeniz that the Central Bank started to engage in such a foreign exchange purchase in recent days. “The (Central) Bank officials are bringing in Turkish Liras in substantial amounts and getting foreign currency. Because of this, foreign currency prices (exchange rate) are becoming more expensive every week,” sources reportedly said.

An analyst said that the new government that will be formed after the elections will end the FX-protected lira deposit scheme which is why it will need foreign currency more than ever.

“Whoever assumes the power after the elections, will end the FX-protected lira implementation, and this will cause a demand for foreign currency. In order to prepare itself for this (upcoming) foreign currency demand, the Central Bank is collecting foreign currency from also the Grand Bazaar. A year’s first quarter is a period that is problematic in terms of foreign currency anyway. And the Grand Bazaar is an important resource in such periods. But for the first time ever, there is such a high demand from both institutions (private sector) and public sector,” the analyst reportedly said.

Bilge Yılmaz, the head of economic policy at the opposition İYİ (Good) Party, took the issue to his Twitter, saying the current government’s “obsessive and irrational economic policies” have a very heavy cost for the country. He said that if the opposition comes to power in the upcoming elections, “We will bring the Central Bank to its feed immediately with capable executives and restore its institutional identity that befits our Republic.”

Turkey's Central Bank lowers key rate 50 pointsEconomy

Turkish Central Bank’s 30 billion lira earthquake donation feared to spike inflation furtherEconomy