Turkey $2 Billion Lira Defense Fails to UBS as Reserves Sink
By Steve Bryant and Selcuk Gokoluk
Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Turkey may lack resources to stop the lira’s tumble after selling more than $2 billion this week to prop up the currency, extending a two-month campaign to end the declines, according to UBS AG and Commerzbank AG.
Central bank reserves fell more than 9 percent from a record high of $93.9 billion on July 8 to $85.1 billion on Oct. 7 as policy makers accelerated dollar sales. Turkey’s foreign- exchange holdings equal about four months of imports and represent 42 percent of the government’s annual external financing needs, Timothy Ash, the head of emerging-market research at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in London, said in an e-mailed report.
More:Turkey $2 Billion Lira Defense Fails to UBS as Reserves Sink - Businessweek
