Canada Global (Web News) The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) said on Monday that Saudi Arabia and Turkey have struck an agreement for Saudi Arabia to deposit $5 billion into Turkey’s central bank.
Mohammed Bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan, the Saudi Arabian minister of finance, said in December that his nation will make the deposit.
Despite increasing from just over $6 billion last summer, when they were at their lowest in at least 20 years, Turkey’s net foreign exchange reserves have lost about $8.5 billion since a devastating earthquake struck the country’s southern region early in February. The earthquake claimed more than 45,000 lives and left millions homeless.
Net international reserves held by the Turkish Central Bank decreased by $1.4 billion to $20.2 billion in the week ending February 24, according to statistics released by the bank on Thursday.
The Saudi deposit comes in the wake of coordinated attempts by Ankara and Riyadh to repair relations that were strained following the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 at the country’s consulate in Istanbul.
Due to market interventions and the fallout from a currency crisis in December 2021, Turkey’s foreign exchange holdings have fallen precipitously in recent years. In comparison to the dollar, the lira lost almost 30% of its value in 2016 and 44% in 2021.
