Turkey lowers forex reserve requirement ratios

The Turkish Central Bank (CB) said on Friday it was lowering the reserve requirement ratios (RRR) on foreign exchange deposits by 0.5 per centage points in a move supplying $930 million in additional liquidity to the market. The weighted average of foreign exchange RRRs will fall to 11 per cent, the central bank said.The latest measure came after the central bank surprised markets on Thursday by cutting its policy rate to an all-time low to bolster the economy while also acting to support the ailing lira. After the latest move on reserve requirements, the benchmark bond yield fell to 8.43 per cent from 8.52 per cent, while the lira firmed to 1.7350 against the dollar from around 1.74 beforehand.“It is clear that the Central Bank is trying to take the steam out of the forex market,” said BGC Partners chief economist Ozgur Altug.“After this decision, market players will follow the daily forex selling auction amount,” he said. The main share index was down 3.3 per cent, reflecting declines in foreign markets. At an emergency monetary policy committee meeting the bank cut its one-week repo rate to 5.75 per cent from 6.25 per cent, but sought to offset any negative impact on the lira by raising its overnight borrowing rate to 5 per cent from 1.5 per cent and starting foreign exchange selling auctions. The currency fell sharply, however, as markets mindful of inflationary pressures in Turkey’s fast-growing economy struggled to digest a raft of new policy moves and analysts complained that there was a lack of clear communication from policy makers. Monetary policy moves Turkey announced on Thursday aimed to minimise the impact of global economic risks, its central bank said, adding it saw no reason for the lira to fall further. As the domestic currency extended declines from on Thursday that were driven by a surprise cut in the bank’s main policy rate, central bank governor Erdem Basci said he also expected Turkey’s large current account deficit to narrow rapidly over the rest of the year. In a statement, Basci also said inflation appeared to be dipping closer to the bank’s year-end target of 5.5 per cent, and that it might increase the amounts of hard currency sold at forex auctions and further reduce banks’ required reserve ratios. From / Gulf Today