#Turkey has burnt through billions of Dollars defending the Lira

Turkey's new finance team tries to bring its economy back from the brink.

Turkey's official reserve assets amount to $99.8bn, including $50.3bn in foreign currencies and $42bn in gold, according to central bank data. But this does not include the amounts the central bank owes to locals and foreigners.

Net foreign assets, a proxy for foreign exchange reserves that is closely watched by investors, were minus $15.9bn, a figure that would be even lower if not for tens of billions of dollars of funds borrowed from the local banking system and foreign central banks through tools known as "swaps".

Turkey's net foreign assets are in an even worse position than after the 2000-01 Turkish banking crisis, during which the lira collapsed and interest rates soared, central bank data showed. "Current levels are dangerously low and it requires efforts to rebuild foreign currency reserves," said Christian Wietoska, a Deutsche Bank strategist.

Current account is the worst we've seen in decades.

See the whole report on the FT here:

https://on.ft.com/3qLovHh