Turkish finance minister defends predecessor’s currency trading reserves plan

ANKARA, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Turkey’s finance minister has defended the foreign trade reserve coverage of his predecessor Berat Albayrak, saying transactions that had led to a sharp tumble in reserves had been a reaction to the remarkable requires of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Albayrak, who is President Tayyip Erdogan’s son-in-law, abruptly resigned in November soon right after Erdogan changed the central financial institution governor. In his two-yr term as finance minister, the lira slumped to file lows though fx reserves dwindled.

In a social media campaign blaming Albayrak for financial woes, the major opposition Republican People’s Get together (CHP) demanded to know what had took place to the $128 billion it suggests have been sold from the central bank’s reserves.

“I strongly condemn the unjust and rude rhetoric utilized by the CHP about fx reserves from our former Treasury and Finance Minister Mr Berat Albayrak,” Finance Minister Lutfi Elvan explained on Twitter late on Sunday.

“It is unacceptable to distort the overseas trade reserves transactions carried out in line with the goal of money balance amid the 2020 pandemic instances in an surroundings necessitated by remarkable fluctuations in the worldwide markets,” he extra.

A lawyer for Albayrak explained at the weekend the CHP’s marketing campaign comprised “ugly slander and makes an attempt at smearing” the former minister, incorporating that they would file a 500,000 lira ($71,000) damages lawsuit in excess of the marketing campaign.

“Transactions about the central bank’s reserves have been carried out in accordance with the current regulation and in line with the aims of money and rate stability, in a manner befitting the harmony of payments requirements,” Albayrak’s law firm explained in a assertion.

“Since the working day he resigned from his post, Mr Berat Albayrak has been spending time with his wife and young children at residence, like in any normal Turkish family members.” ($1 = 7.0130 liras) (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu Editing by Daren Butler and Gareth Jones)