The $128B Currency Illusion: Turkey's $62B Bet on Borrowed Time
Turkey's lira sits near 49 to the dollar, the central bank has held rates at 37% for five straight meetings, and the lira's fragile stability now runs on a $62.4 billion foreign carry trade. This is the financial autopsy of how Turkey lost $128 billion in reserves, built a $140 billion off-books liability to hide it, and is now betting the recovery on borrowed money.In 2019–2020, Turkey's central bank reserves collapsed by roughly $128 billion as state banks sold dollars to defend the lira, mostly off the books. The fallout: a corruption scandal known as the "Gang of Five," a…
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