CHP Istanbul's trustee's bill to the Central Bank is $8 billion!

The political tension that began with the appointment of a trustee to the CHP's Istanbul Provincial Headquarters led the Central Bank (CBRT) to switch to keeping the exchange rate fixed again.

According to bankers' estimates, around $3 billion in foreign currency was sold from reserves yesterday to defend the Turkish lira. This brings the total foreign currency sales since Gürsel Tekin's appointment as trustee on September 2nd to $8 billion.

Meanwhile, British banking giant HSBC raised its year-end dollar forecast from 42 lira to 44 lira in a note dated September 8. Murat Toprak, one of the bank's strategists, stated that the Central Bank's exchange rate policy continues to hold the lira steady, but its implicit target for real Turkish lira appreciation "appears looser than last year."