Key keywords: Turkish lira exchange rate, Bloomberg Türkiye economic report, Turkish foreign reserve sales, currency stabilization policy, emerging market currency risk, Turkish state asset disposal, Türkiye lira defense measures, global FX market trends According to a recent exclusive report from American financial media outlet Bloomberg, the Turkish government and central bank have sold nearly all available liquid assets in their control over the past seven months in a concentrated effort to prevent the Turkish lira from experiencing further sharp depreciation against the U.S. dollar and other major global currencies. Citing three anonymous sources with direct knowledge of the country’s foreign exchange operations, Bloomberg revealed that the total value of assets sold by Turkish authorities between July 2023 and January 2024 has surpassed $27 billion, including $14.8 billion in gold reserves, $9.2 billion in foreign government sovereign bonds held by the Turkish central bank, and $3 billion in minority stakes in state-owned energy, logistics and telecommunications enterprises operating in European and Middle Eastern markets. The report notes that Türkiye has been facing sustained currency depreciation pressure since 2022, driven by persistently high domestic inflation that peaked at over 85% in late 2022, a widening current account deficit fueled by rising energy import costs, and global monetary tightening led by the U.S. Federal Reserve that pushed capital out of emerging markets. The lira lost more than 35% of its value against the U.S. dollar in 2023 alone, pushing up the cost of imported goods and further exacerbating domestic inflationary pressures for Turkish households. To prevent the lira from falling below the psychologically important threshold of 30 lira per U.S. dollar, the Turkish central bank has been intervening heavily in the foreign exchange market since the second half of 2023, in addition to implementing a series of interest rate hikes starting in June 2023 that lifted the country’s benchmark interest rate from 8.5% to 45% as of January 2024. The asset sales cited in the Bloomberg report have been the primary source of foreign currency used for these market interventions, according to the outlet’s sources. Data from the Turkish central bank shows that the country’s net usable foreign exchange reserves, which had fallen into negative territory in mid-2023, have stabilized at around $18.5 billion as of late January 2024, while the lira has traded in a relatively narrow range of 28.7 to 29.8 lira per dollar over the past two months, a sharp contrast to the frequent double-digit monthly depreciations seen earlier in 2023. The Turkish Ministry of Treasury and Finance issued a statement responding to the Bloomberg report on January 30, noting that all foreign exchange operations conducted by the government and central bank are in line with global standard market practices, and are designed to maintain orderly market conditions and protect the financial well-being of Turkish citizens. The statement added that the asset sales have not affected the country’s long-term fiscal sustainability, and that Türkiye remains on track to bring inflation down to below 30% by the end of 2024.