Turkey will soon receive $5bn deposit from Saudi Arabia

REUTERS/Ahmed Yosri

Saudi Arabia will place a $5 billion deposit at Turkey’s central bank “within days,” the kingdom’s finance minister, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, said on Wednesday.

“It will happen soon. The decision was taken between us and Turkey,” he told reporters, saying discussions were on remaining details and the deposit could happen “within days.”

“There is great improvement in our relationship with Turkey and we aspire for investment opportunities in Turkey and other countries,” he said.

A Saudi finance ministry spokesman told Reuters on November 22 that the two states were in “final discussion” on the deposit.

Turkey’s economy has been badly strained by a slumping lira and soaring inflation of over 85 percent and a swap or deposit agreement could boost Turkey’s diminished foreign currency reserves.

Analysts said earlier that this could also help President Tayyip Erdogan shore up support ahead of elections due by June 2023.

Turkey’s central bank has swap deals in local currencies with several of its counterparts worth a total of $28 billion. It signed a deal with China for $6 billion, with Qatar for $15 billion, with the United Arab Emirates for around $5 billion.

The momentum of talks between the countries’ central banks comes after Ankara and Riyadh’s joint effort to mend ties that were ruptured after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 at the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate.