As Foreigners Flee Turkey Debt, Central Bank Helps Fill Void

The Turkish central bank has kicked off its biggest government debt buybacks in over a decade, helping fill a void left by foreigners and adding momentum to the developing world’s strongest bond rally this year.

As part of a program designed to manage the banking system’s liquidity, policy makers purchased about 1.9 billion liras ($318 million) of local-currency government bonds through auctions since the beginning of January, equivalent to around a third of total acquisitions last year, according to data on the central bank’s website. Benchmark bond yields have plunged some 200 basis points over the period, outpacing a decline among peers by a factor of four.