13 January 2017•Update: 13 January 2017
By Fatih Erkan Dogan
ANKARA
The Turkish Central Bank has the necessary tools available to it to stem the lira’s fall, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said Friday.
Zeybekci said the bank was free to act as it deemed appropriate. “The central bank’s hands and feet are not tied,” he told Anadolu Agency’s Editors’ Desk in Ankara. “It has many instruments.”
The U.S. dollar peaked against the lira during the first 10 days of the year -- reaching 3.93 . It fell below 3.75 after the bank announced it would reduce the currency’s liquidity to boost its value.
The bank has previously cut the reserve requirement ratios for commercial banks’ foreign exchange deposits to provide an additional $1.5 billion to prop up the lira.
Zeybekci also said the lira’s current volatility did not threaten the economy as it did not reflect the economy’s strong underlying basis.
“We believe this will not create a risk for Turkey,” he said. “It does not have a rationale behind it.”
