The Turkish state banks, in cooperation with the Istanbul Gold Refinery, developed a new system to push citizens to take out their gold savings “from under the mattresses” into their bank accounts, aiming to enable the state to fully use its economic potential and bring unused resources into the economy.
According to information released by the Turkish Ministry of Treasury and Finance, the monetary equivalent of at least 3,000 tons of hidden gold is equivalent to billions of dollars.
The ministry said that the gold valuation system will enable citizens to transfer their gold savings through certified jewelers to their bank accounts so that they can withdraw or convert them into cash at any time.
Experts pointed out that this system allows the citizen to transfer gold savings to a bank account safely and without any risks, as well as saving the costs of depositing in banks.
The Turkish Treasury and the Istanbul Gold Refinery will let selected jewelers collect gold from citizens and deposit it at state banks, and under the new regulations, customers would be able to withdraw physical gold.
The Istanbul Gold Refinery was established in 1996 by a group of Turkey's most prominent banks with the support of the government, Treasury, and the Istanbul Gold Exchange.
The price of a gram of gold recorded a new high in the Turkish markets and reached TL465.
The Turkish market is in a state of extreme volatility, with gold prices on the rise and the Turkish lira slipping to its lowest level over the past few days, as the US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate rose to 7.4.
The central bank issued a statement Friday indicating that the deficit in current transactions of $1.82 billion was less than expected, attributing it to the high cost of imports and the sharp decline in tourism due to the coronavirus.
It added that the trade deficit amounted to $1.85 billion, while the services balance, which includes tourism, recorded a net income of $288 million, down from $4.6 billion in July 2019.
The deficit in the first seven months was $21.63 billion and is expected to further increase in the coming months.
Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the lira's successive declines as “a game” played by foreign parties with local agents to destroy the Turkish economy.
