Turkish Central Bank gross reserves see record level of $136 billion

Türkiye's Central Bank has announced record-high gross reserves of $136.49 billion as of the end of last week.

According to the bank's weekly figures released on Thursday, gross reserves surged $2.02 billion on a weekly basis as of November 24.

Foreign currency reserves totaled $90.99 billion after an increase of $1.77 billion over the same period, while gold reserves amounted to $45.24 billion, up $225 million.

Since May, total gross reserves climbed $38.35 billion, or 38.6%.

This was also the 15th weekly increase in a row in gross reserves, now at a record level since 1987, when the data collection began.

Increasing policy rate by 500 points

The Central Bank of Türkiye has hiked its policy rate by 500 basis points to 40 percent, much more than market forecasts.

The bank stressed last week that the current level of monetary tightness is significantly close to the level required to establish the disinflation course.

"Accordingly, the pace of monetary tightening will slow down and the tightening cycle will be completed in a short period of time," it said.

According to the latest data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), Türkiye's annual inflation eased to 61.36 percent in October, from a nine-month high of 61.53 percent in September.

At its October meeting, the bank increased its policy interest rate, also known as the one-week repo auction rate, by 500 basis points to 35 percent.

Over the course of six monetary policy meetings, the bank has been gradually increasing the rate from 8.5 percent in May.