Turkey could lose $5bn in reserves in a week

The Turkish central bank's total gross reserves are expected to fall by more than $5 billion to about $116 billion due to rising demand for foreign exchange as the country approaches elections in May, Reuters wrote.
According to calculations based on central bank data, the drop in gross reserves last week was between $4.8 billion and $6.1 billion against an average forecast of $5.4 billion.
The reason for the drop in reserves was the increased demand for the currency ahead of the May 14 presidential and parliamentary elections, in which the president faces his biggest political challenge in his 20 years in power.
The Turkish lira has fallen about 3.1 per cent against the dollar since the devastating earthquakes in early February and trades at 19.4125.
Gross reserves, or the amount of foreign exchange reserves, fell from $129.63 billion as of February 3 to $121.5 billion by April 14.
Net reserves are also expected to fall, but not as much as the drop in gross reserves.