Turkey finance minister to announce gold savings scheme on weekend- sources

LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Turkey will announce a new scheme on the weekend to encourage households to convert their gold holdings into liras, finance minister Nureddin Nebati told investors in London on Tuesday.

Two investors who attended meetings with Nebati in London said the minister had told them about the plans to ensure part of the $250-$350 billion worth of gold held by Turkish households would find its way into the domestic saving system.

"They will make announcements this weekend on how to convince people to let go of their gold holdings – it is a huge amount in Turkey," said on investor.

"They want this gold to come back into the banking system, this will certainly help to broaden the monetary base in terms of Turkish lira."

The investors said Nebati did not provide any further details on how the scheme would work.

Turkey, which is battling inflation rates of near 50% year-on-year, introduced a scheme in December to encourage locals to convert their foreign currency savings into lira under a deposit protection plan. read more

The government has ramped up a public campaign over the last month to get gold stored in homes into banks.

Reporting by Karin Strohecker; editing by Sujata Rao

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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