ANKARA: The share of hard currency deposits in Turkey’s banking system has fallen more than 10 percentage points since Ankara introduced a crisis-era scheme in December to protect deposits from foreign-exchange losses, the Treasury said on Wednesday.

Under the scheme, introduced to stem a full-blown currency crisis, the Treasury and central bank guarantee lira deposits with up to a 12-month duration against further depreciation.

The first forex-protected deposits in the so-called KKM scheme reached maturity this week, and investors are monitoring whether this results in more demand for foreign currencies as funds are potentially pulled out.

Some 3.5 trillion lira ($236 billion) of the 6 trillion lira total bank deposits were in hard currencies as of March 11, according to data from the BDDK bank regulator.

The Treasury said KKM deposits had reached a total of 591 billion lira ($40 billion) as of March 22, in more than a million accounts.

The lira was flat at 14.8350 against the dollar on Wednesday, having held steady in recent sessions following a bout of weakness when Russia first invaded Ukraine. It has weakened 11% this year after sliding 44% in 2021, making it the worst performer in emerging markets.