ANKARA, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Turkey increased ratio of withholding tax on foreign currency deposit accounts and cut taxes on Turkish lira savings, trying to stabilize its struggling currency.
According to a decree law announced in the Official Gazette on Friday, the withholding tax on foreign currency deposits of up to six months is raised from 18 percent to 20 percent, deposits of up to one year is raised to 16 percent from 15 percent.
Meanwhile, the Turkish government lowered withholding tax on lira deposits of up to one year to 3 percent from 12 percent and the tax on deposits of up to six months to 5 percent from 15 percent. Tax on lira savings of more than one year is lowered to zero from 10 percent.
The lira strengthened by more than 2 percent after the announcement and decreased to trading at 6.51 against the dollar.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said that Turkish lira was being targeted in an operation but Turkey will overcome this attack and the currency volatility will eventually pass.
Lira has lost around 40 percent of its value in 2018 due to economic concerns and a diplomatic spat with the United States.
