Turkish assets see $1B outflow as foreign investors halt bond purchases

Foreign investors suspended their bond purchasing strategies in the first week of September in Türkiye.

According to data from the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT), for the week ending Sept. 6, foreigners recorded a net sale of $50.6 million in equities and $863.7 million in government debt securities.

Additionally, there was a net sale of $32.1 million in corporate bonds. This led to foreign investors’ total exit of $946.4 million from Turkish assets within the week.

Reserves continue to decline

According to the central bank’s weekly data:

• Total reserves decreased by $2.6 billion to $146.8 billion as of Sept. 6
• Net international reserves fell from $40.8 billion to $39.7 billion
• Net reserves, excluding swaps, dropped from $18.5 billion to $17.4 billion.
• Gross foreign exchange reserves decreased by $2.8 billion to $86.6 billion, while gold reserves increased by $150 million to $60.2 billion.

Decline in protected deposits slows down

According to Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA) data for the week ending Sept. 6:

• Protected deposits fell by $19.7 billion, marking the slowest decline in the past 10 weeks.
• Consequently, the total size of protected deposits decreased to ₺1.58 trillion ($46.5 billion).

Domestic foreign currency deposits increase

Domestic foreign currency deposits increased last week:

• parity-adjusted foreign currency deposits rose by $847 million.
• Individual foreign currency deposits fell by $251 million,
• Corporate deposits increased by $1.1 billion.