ANKARA - The Central Bank said on Monday that it directly intervened in the foreign exchange buying market to prevent fluctuations in the exchange rates.
A statement of the Central Bank said that the foreign exchange rates were determined by the demand and supply in the markets in the floating exchange rate regime and the fluctuations in the exchange rates were closely followed.
The statement emphasized that there was an extreme fluctuation in the exchange rates especially since the end of April as a result of the end of the Iraq war, investments on Turkish liras (TL), increase in foreign exchange sales due to TL liquidity need caused as a result of tax payments and lack of demand in foreign exchange markets.
Due to all those reasons, the bank directly intervened in the foreign exchange buying market to prevent those fluctuations, the statement noted.
The statement pointed out that foreign exchange buying auctions started to be held on May 6 due to an excess foreign exchange supply which started to occur as of the end of February.
Those auctions would enhance the Central Bank foreign exchange reserves without conflicting with the floating exchange rate regime, and without disrupting the long-term trend and the natural equilibrium level of the exchange rate, the statement said.
The statement added that the foreign exchange buying auctions would continue.
(BRC-AÖ) 12.05.2003