ISTANBUL: The Turkish central bank’s net international reserves dropped by nearly $2 billion to $17.16 billion in the week to April 22, data from the central bank showed.

The exchange rate used by Reuters was 14.6605.

Forex reserves have dropped sharply in recent years, most recently due to billions of dollars the bank sold in market interventions to stem a currency crisis in December and address what it called “unhealthy” prices.

The lira still ended the year down 44% against the dollar in 2021, a slump which helped send inflation soaring to 61% in March, the highest under President Tayyip Erdogan’s rule.

The central bank has met the market’s need for at least $30 billion of forex since December through its reserves, in addition to direct interventions in the forex market in 2019-2020, when it sold $128 billion to support the lira.

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Its net forex reserves touched a record low of $7.55 billion before moving higher over the past three months.

In past years, the bank used swaps with local banks to backstop interventions, an unorthodox policy that spooked foreign investors and local savers.

Data showed the bank’s outstanding swap transactions stood at $42.09 billion as of Thursday. The reserves are in negative territory once the swaps are deducted.