Turkey Spends $12 Billion to Defend Lira From War-Fueled Turmoil

Turkey has spent $12 billion, equal to roughly 15% of its foreign-currency reserves, to keep the lira stable during a week of global market volatility triggered by the war in Iran.

The Turkish central bank tightened liquidity conditions before markets opened on Monday and, when trading began, lenders stepped in to sell dollars to deter volatility, according to traders familiar with the deals, who asked not to be identified due to the private nature of the transactions. The amount of dollar sales declined throughout the week with no such transactions observed on Thursday, they said.