Central Bank to restart dollar purchases

Turkish Central Bank said it would resume buying dollars through daily auctions starting Tuesday, taking advantage of greater lira to strengthen its reserves.

The Bank buys $ 30 million a day, with an option to purchase an additional $ 30 million, said in an e-mailed statement from Ankara on Monday.

The international risk appetite has increased, rising capital flows to Turkey and to make "adequate conditions for the central bank to strengthen its reserves," the statement said. The Turkish lira has gained 18 percent against the dollar since March 9, when it hit a record low at 1.808 per dollar.

Mehmet Büyükekşi, chief of the Assembly of Turkish exporters, on July 23 urged the Bank to buy dollars to curb the rise of the lira, which he said is hurting exports. Central Bank, Durmus Yilmaz, said July 29 it was considering a restart of the purchase auctions, held on 15 October.

The lira weakened after the announcement, falling by 0.1 percent to 1.472 per dollar, after rising as much as 0.2 percent earlier.

The Central Bank had reserves of 65.8 billion U.S. dollars on July 24, according to latest figures. It sold $ 900 billion lire through daily auctions in March when the currency weakened against the dollar.