Turkish Central Bank sells $10.5 billion to national gas grid in 2015

Neşe Karanfil - ANKARA

Turkey’s Central Bank sold around $10.5 billion in currency to the national gas grid BOTAŞ in 2015 to prevent any further hikes in the dollar’s value, according to the lender’s head.

Central Bank Gov. Erdem Başçı gave the detailed figures during a presentation to the cabinet late Jan. 4. 

The Central Bank sold a total of $12.1 billion to markets over last year as of Dec. 25, 2015. BOTAŞ took the lion’s share with around $10.5 billion, according to official data. Because the Turkish Lira tends to lose value when BOTAŞ buys dollars from the markets, the Central Bank began directly selling to the gas grid one year ago.

Last year, the Central Bank sold $1 billion to BOTAŞ in January, $1.5 billion in February, $1.8 billion in March and $1.4 billion in April. 

After the cold winter months, the sales figures began to see a gradual decrease over the year. 

After some reports claimed the direct dollar sale to BOTAŞ negatively affected the Central Bank’s reserves, officials started to work on a project that would enable the gas grid to meet its dollar needs from state-run lenders.