Turkish Foreign Exchange Reserves (Oct/09) 64.57B (Prev. 60.33B)

Weekly reserve prints of this kind from Ankara are read less for the headline level than for what the composition implies about intervention and policy credibility. The distinction that matters is gross versus net: a rise in gross reserves that comes from gold revaluation, bank required-reserve flows, or swaps with local banks is weaker than one built from genuine unborrowed accumulation, and market participants routinely back out the swap-adjusted and net international reserve figures before drawing conclusions. In episodes where the central bank has been rebuilding buffers after periods of defending the lira, sustained week-on-week accumulation has tended to support the carry trade and compress Turkish CDS and hard-currency spreads, while stalled or declining buffers have historically preceded renewed lira pressure. The follow-ons are the accompanying breakdown on domestic residents' FX deposits, the central bank's net reserve position once published, and whether the trend survives the next few weekly prints rather than reflecting a single inflow. One week's data of this size is suggestive rather than conclusive.