Turkey's gold imports have increased in recent years as more Turks buy bullion to protect their wealth from soaring inflation and a weakening domestic currency.
The country had a current account deficit of $48.8 billion
last year, largely because of the high amount of bullion
entering the country. In January Turkey imported gold worth $5.1
billion, trade minister Mehmet Mus said.
A 7.9 magnitude earthquake 7.9 struck central Turkey and
northwest Syria last week, killing tens of thousands of people
as buildings collapsed across the snowy region, triggering a
search for survivors trapped in rubble and a mass exodus from
the region.
(Reporting by Harshit Verma and Shubhendu Deshmukh in Bengaluru
Editing by Peter Hobson and David Goodman
)
