Please summarize the following article in financial term.
The Turkish lira Money for nothing ISTANBUL Counting the costs of the currency's failed defence REDAWN POLICE operations in Turkey did they start such a silly process, why wasn't it transparent, and who ordered eyebrows. Under the cover of darkness the banks to sell foreign currency and at on April 13th, police officers across the what rates?" The government has not country took down giant banners hang- provided compelling answers. ing from offices of Turkey's main opposi- With its reserves eroded, the central tion party, the Republican People's Party bank might not be able to defend the lira (CHP). "Where is the $128bn?" the offend- for much longer. And the currency is ing signs read. under pressure again. After a strong start The $128bn is the amount of foreign- to the year, the lira resumed its descent currency reserves bankers and analysts after Mr Erdogan sacked the former reckon has been squandered by Turkey's central-bank governor, a respected policy central bank in its attempt to prop up the hawk, and replaced him with Sahap lira over the past couple of years. (Com- Kavcioglu, a critic of high interest rates. prehensive official figures are not pub- The former governor reportedly got lished.) The government, headed by under Mr Erdogan's skin after ordering Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has little to show an internal probe into the central bank's for the policy, thought to be spearheaded dollar sales. His successor has defended by Mr Erdogan's son-in-law, a former the policy, saying it prevented further finance minister. Since the start of 2019, lira depreciation. Mr Kavcioglu was when the interventions began, the lira already expected to slash rates in the has lost over 35% against the dollar, the second half of the year. Mr Erdogan may result of inflation, low real interest rates lean on him to do so even earlier to offset and a string of political crises. the damage to the economy from the Prosecutors ordered the banners be pandemic. After a record spike in cases, taken down, claiming they insulted the the government announced a three-week president, a crime punishable by up to lockdown starting on April 29th. four years in prison. One official said The lira's decline has eaten away at they violated covid-19 restrictions. But all Turks' purchasing power, forcing many this only heightened the controversy. to turn to the greenback. (Turkish resi- "Where is the $128bn?" lit up social me- dents keep more of their savings in dol- dia. On April 21st Mr Erdogan conceded lars than in lira.) But the lack of confi- that the central bank had used its re- dence in the management of the coun- serves to defend the lira, that it might do try's finances has had other effects, in- so again if needed and that the amount cluding a boom in cryptocurrency spent, including some other items, was trading. Between the start of February in fact $165bn. Markets shuddered. and March 24th trading volumes in The money has not vanished. To Turkey reached 218bn lira, up by 3,000% relieve the pressure on the currency, the on the same period last year, according to central bank exchanged some of its Reuters. Holders have suffered a double dollars for lira through state banks. But shock. The first came when the central this incurred staggering costs. Given the bank banned the use of cryptocurrencies lira's depreciation over time, the trades as payment. The second was the collapse have generated losses of about 250bn lira of two Turkish crypto-exchanges in a ($3obn), equivalent to 4% of GDP, calcu- single week. One of their founders is lates Kerim Rota, a former banker and thought to have fled to Albania with $2bn member of a new opposition party. That in investors' assets. They too will be raises several questions, he says: "why asking where their money has gone
