Turkey’s central bank is seeking to increase its foreign currency reserves by as much as $2.1 billion by asking banks to deposit more of their lira reserve requirements in foreign exchange.

The central bank in Ankara raised the portion of required reserves banks can keep in foreign currency to as much as 45 percent of total reserves from 40 percent, it said in statement on its website today.

The measure, to be implemented on June 22, would also release as much as 2.8 billion liras of liquidity into the market, the central bank said.

Central bank governor Erdem Basci is seeking to bolster his defenses against further sales of lira by increasing his reserves from $80 billion on May 18.

To contact the reporter on this story: Aydan Eksin in Istanbul at aeksin@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Shaji Mathew at shajimathew@bloomberg.net