Turkey’s Presidential Annual Program for 2023, was presented on Monday by the Presidential Strategy and Budget Directorate and it included a discussion about the country adopting a central bank digital currency.
According to the program, Turkey is poised to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) next year.
The announcement came after Turkey’s central bank announced in September 2021 that it was considering issuing a CBDC to complement its existing payments infrastructure, in a project entitled “Central Bank Digital Turkish Lira Research and Development.”
The Balance of Payments section of the project, under the sub-heading of Policies and Measures, stated that a blockchain-based central bank digital currency will be put into practice.
According to the report, Turkey’s Central bank in collaboration with the local Ministry of Finance and Scientific and Technological Research Institution are backing the establishment of the CBDC.
The Central bank will be at the helm of research and development for the CBDC project, coordinating its testing in partnership with other financial institutions. Additionally, the Digital Turkish Lira Research and Development Project will diversify into areas like blockchain technology, which uses distributed ledgers for payment systems.
According to the report, the Digital Turkish Lira system will be integrated with digital identity and FAST. FAST is a payment system operated by the Turkish central bank.