Ankara, Dec 1 (IANS): The total reserves of the Turkish central bank reached a historic high of $136.49 billion as of the end of last week, according to the data announced by the bank.

Among the reserves, $90.99 billion were foreign currency reserves while $45.49 billion were gold reserves, reports Xinhua news agency.

Since May, the bank's total gross reserves surged $38.35 billion, or 38.6 per cent.

There has been an upward momentum in the bank's reserves since June.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appointed former banker Hafize Gaye Erkan as central bank governor and Mehmet Simsek as the head of the Treasury and Finance Ministry in June.

Both bankers were considered market-friendly figures.

The bank had previously implemented a policy of selling dollar reserves as part of its interventions to maintain stable exchange rates.

Previously, Erdogan implemented an unconventional monetary policy of lowering interest rates to combat stubborn inflation, which has since been abandoned by the new economic team.

The new administration aggressively raised interest rates from 8.5 per cent to 40 per cent during the June-November period to tame persistent inflation.