Turkey liquidates nearly all US Treasuries as Iran war bites economy: Report

Turkey liquidates nearly all US Treasuries as Iran war bites economy: Report Submitted by MEE staff on Thu, 05/21/2026 - 19:24 Turkey sold $14bn in US Treasuries as it moved to support the lira This picture taken in Istanbul, Turkey, shows people looking at foreign exchange rates displayed against the Turkish lira, on 21 April 2024 (Yasin Akgul/AFP) Off Turkey sold almost all of its US Treasury holdings in March, in a sign of the deep economic pressure the country’s economy has come under as a result of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Turkey liquidated around $14bn in US Treasuries, bringing its total holdings of US debt to just $1.6bn dollars, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing its own estimates based on US government data. Turkey’s vulnerable economy has been hit on multiple fronts by the US-Israeli war on Iran. The country imports nearly all of its oil and gas from abroad. Rising energy prices have made those imports more expensive. Turkey also imported about 14 percent of its natural gas from Iran before the war, but those flows reportedly stopped after an attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field. Rising energy prices have also sparked global inflation concerns, sending US Treasury yields higher. The rise in yields has increased Turkish borrowing costs and made its riskier debt less attractive to foreign investors. A country like Turkey typically sells its holdings of US debt to raise US dollars, which it then sells in the foreign-currency market to support its own currency. The lira has been on a downward spiral for years, with Turkey battling persistent inflation. Some shipping industry professionals eye leaving Dubai for Greece Read More » The Tu...

Original source: Middle East Eye