ANKARA, Dec 30 Reuters Turkey39;s central bank said on Friday it aims to lift the share of lira deposits to 60 of all deposits in the banking system over the next six months, and vowed to continue using regulations to support access to credit.

Lira deposits now account for 53 of the total.

In its annual monetary policy report, the central bank said it was maintaining its longheld 5 mediumterm inflation target, as the annual inflation rate begins edging down from a 24year high above 85 in October.

Policies will continue to be used in order to permanently increase the weight of the Turkish lira on both the asset and liability sides of the banking system, the bank said.

The central bank, which has undertaken an liraization policy of stabilizing the currency pressured by its interest rate cuts, repeated it had no exchange rate target level and would not buy or sell hard currencies to direct the lira.

Inflation has surged since autumn 2021, stoked by an unorthodox monetary easing cycle that President Tayyip Erdogan pushed for to boost economic growth and investment, but which sparked a historic currency crash late last year.

A year ago, hard currencies accounted for some 65 of all deposits in the banking system, reflecting years of lira depreciation and high and volatile inflation rates.

But after dozens of regulations were adopted in 2022 meant to dissuade foreign currencies39; use including statebacked depreciationprotected lira deposits their share has fallen to…