Turkey Weighs Inflation-Protected Lira Bonds, Nikkei Reports

(Bloomberg) -- Turkey is considering new lira-based financial products that the government would guarantee against inflation losses, Nikkei Asia reported, citing a senior official.

Goksel Asan, head of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's finance office, told Nikkei in an interview Friday that the government is working on financial products to put the nation's economy back on track, and ultimately reach a current-account surplus.

“The Treasury and Finance Ministry are working on inflation-indexed instruments,” Nikkei cited Asan as saying. “I do not think that it will be another bank deposit instrument, which would mean competing with the new forex-indexed lira deposits,” he said, hinting at bonds without specifying.

Turkey Significantly Raises Electricity, Natural Gas Prices

December was one of most tumultuous months for the lira in decades. Erdogan unveiled an emergency plan on Dec. 20 to curb the currency's unprecedented depreciation and protect investors against wild swings. 

Under the mechanism, the government agreed to compensate holders of lira deposits if the currency's declines exceed bank interest rates. Turkey offered similar compensation for deposits whose returns are linked to the price of gold, to try and encourage citizens to convert to liras from gold-based deposits.   

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