Turkey sells gold amid currency crisis

DUBAI: Turkey sold almost 11.7 million tons of gold in February as its currency was hammered by an ongoing economic crisis, new data show.
While central banks were net buyers of the precious metal during February, Turkey bucked the upward trend as it sold 11.7 tons according to a report from the World Gold Council.

“Central banks tipped back into net purchases during February,” said Krishan Gopaul, market intelligence manager at the World Gold Council. “Buying from India, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Colombia outweighed the only notable sale of gold by Turkey. Our expectation remains that central banks will be net purchasers in 2021, but the immediate outlook for central bank demand remains finely balanced.”
The Turkish lira was on the retreat again this week as annual inflation in the country neared two year highs.
Data on Monday showed annual inflation in March rose above 16 percent — some way off the central bank’s 5 percent target.
President Tayyip Erdogan has fired four bank chiefs in less than two years, hurting investor confidence.