Turkey uses Chinese yuan in funding following swap deal

Turkey's central bank announced on Friday that for the first time, it used Chinese yuan for funding facilities under a swap agreement signed with China last year.

Turkish companies used Chinese yuan to pay their import bills through relevant banks in the transactions on Thursday, the central bank said in a statement.

It said it is a significant step for access to liquidity and that "it would further strengthen the financial cooperation between Turkey and China."

Turkey's central bank reserves have considerably dwindled since last year because of efforts to protect the national currency, the Turkish lira, from declining further against the U.S. dollar amid the nation's vulnerable economy.

Turkish Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said recently that Turkey was holding talks to establish swap lines with several countries.

Within this framework, Turkey tripled late May the value of its currency swap agreement with Qatar to 15 billion dollars from 5 billion dollars.