Taking bank credits available with subsidised costs to buy physical gold has become a “new fashion” in Turkey, BloombergHT reported on July 16.

Turks see investment opportunities as narrowed due to prevailing negative real bank deposit rates and exchange rate uncertainties. And they see gold as a safe harbour, according to the publication.

“The decline in consumer loan rates has also inclined citizens to gold,” Akif Turker, a goldsmith at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, was cited as saying.

The bazaar has historically been the leading jewellery store hotspot in Turkey.

“Citizens started buying gold when prices stood at Turkish lira [TRY] 300,000 per kg and now prices reached TRY400,000/kg,” he added.

Citizens first come along to ask about the prices and then take cash advances with instalments via their credit cards to buy physical gold for investment, Ali Vurmaz, another goldsmith at the Grand Bazaar, told the publication.

One shopper at the bazaar reportedly said that he had taken a cash advance with instalments with his credit card twice.

The first time, he bought quarter gold coins with a TRY10,000 advance available for 12 monthly instalments. He will repay TRY12,800 to the bank.

On the second occasion, he took a cash advance of TRY7,000 after the value of his gold rose to TRY14,300.

Citizens gradually sell their gold to repay the bank credit instalments, Mehmet Ali Yildirimturk, another goldsmith at the Grand Bazaar, was quoted as saying.

Gold “under the mattress”

Turks are estimated to have more than 5,000 tonnes of gold “under the mattress”. The amount of FX savings kept in such a way is unknown.

On June 7, pro-Erdogan daily Aydinlik reported that Turks who do not want to pay a 1% Tobin tax on currency conversions were heading to the Grand Bazaar just like during the good old days.

The Tobin Tax also applies to invoiced gold purchases.

Tahtakale at the Grand Bazaar is the most famous over-the-counter (OTC) forex market in Turkey, but it had lost its popularity after FX transactions via the financial system became that much easier.

On April 7, unnamed people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg that the Turkish banking watchdog BDDK sent a letter to some unnamed banks asking them to prevent borrowers from using debt to invest in foreign currencies, gold and equities.

It is literally mission impossible. Even if Turkish banks could prevent borrowers making such investments in the first instance, it would not then be possible to control what they would do with their money in the next or an even later instance.

Later in April, daily Hurriyet reported that the issue of the misuse of consumer credits was raised at a cabinet meeting and at discussions held by the executive committee of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Subsidised loans have also led to ballooning home and second-hand vehicle prices.

Less risk-averse Turks have entered into transactions at the Borsa Istanbul but the older generations generally keep away since they have endured bad experiences in the past few decades several times.