By Gokhan Ergocun</p> <p>ISTANBUL (AA) – The Turkish Central Bank on Friday announced its official reserves amounted to $91 billion as of Nov. 30 of the current year.</p> <p>Total reserve assets jumped 5.6 percent in November, versus $86.2 billion at the end of October, the bank's international reserves and foreign currency liquidity report showed.</p> <p>Foreign currency reserves — in convertible foreign currencies — totaled $70.2 billion, up 6.1 percent compared to the previous month. </p> <p>In November, the bank's gold reserves — including gold deposits and, if appropriate, gold swapped — also rose by 4.4 percent on a monthly basis to $19.3 billion.</p> <p>Meanwhile, the bank’s official reserves decreased by 20.86 percent year-on-year, down from $115 billion at the end of November 2017.</p> <p>In mid-December 2013, its total reserves hit their all-time peak at nearly $136 billion, including some $21 billion in gold reserves.</p> <p> </p> <p>- Liability side </p> <p><br>
Short-term predetermined net drains of the central government and the central bank — foreign currency loans, securities, and foreign exchange deposit accounts of residents abroad within the bank — recorded a 12.8-percent monthly hike in November, reaching $12.9 billion, the bank’s report said.
$8.8 billion of this amount was principal repayments and $4.1 billion was interest repayments, it added.
“Regarding the maturity breakdown of the principal and interest payments, $0.8 billion is due in one month, $0.8 billion in 2-3 months, $11.3 billion in 4-12 months, ” the bank said.
It also said the contingent short-term net drains on foreign currency totaled $29.7 billion in November, going up 6.5 percent from the previous month.
According to the bank's definition, the contingent short-term net drains on foreign currency consist of “collateral guarantees on debt due within one year” and “other contingent liabilities, ” which are the banking sector’s required reserves in blocked accounts in foreign currency and gold, and the letters of credit items on the Central Bank’s balance sheet.