CENTRAL NEWS
Durmuş Yılmaz, the previous Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank and current Ankara Deputy of the IYI Party, made evaluations regarding the latest situation in the economy during a programme on Turkish national television, stating that money-printing started at the beginning of Christmas, but till now it remains unclear where this money has gone.
“Currently we are printing money. Reserve money has increased from 205 billion to 270 billion. The papers owned by the Unemployment Fund are being bought by the Central Bank. In other words, the Central Bank is printing money but we do not know where this money goes.”
Yilmaz added that the Unemployment Fund has no available cash because the management of the fund is lending this money to the government through treasury auctions. Yilmaz said that as of today, the 130-odd billion lira money in this fund is not disposable in cash, but as a government stock.
Money printing since Christmas
Durmuş Yılmaz said that when we look at the activities of the Central Bank from the beginning of this year, it is seen that “the reserve money, which constitutes the essence of the total money supply, has increased by 30 percent. It increased from 205 billion TL to 270 billion TL. Meanwhile, inflation in January, February, and March was 3.2 percent since the start of this year. Consequently, 10-15 times more money is printed than inflation.”
Where’s the money?
Turkish Minister of Finance Berat Albayrak, who also happens to be Erodgan’s son-in-law, has been criticised in the past for requesting that money be printed on every economic hiccup. “It’s not clear, it’s not open, it’s not transparent, it’s not accountable,” said Durmuş.
