Turkey plans to pilot a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the second half of next year.

Turkey’s top central banker, Naci Ağbal, told members of parliament on Friday that the country plans to pilot a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the second half of next year. But it may not be enough to save the flagging lira, argues a co-founder of one of Turkey’s leading opposition parties.

The Turkish Central Bank established the Directorate-General Financial Innovation in November earlier this year to carry out R&D into CBDCs.

“Currently, the conceptual phase of this project has been completed. We aim to start pilot tests in the second half of 2021” — just two months later, Ağbal said.

“Turkey’s digitalization policy is partially driven by the desire to catch up with the rest of the world and a sense of techno-optimism: İf we have a social or economic problem, well, maybe the answer is ‘let’s go digital’, and the problem will solve itself” — Medeni Sungur, the president of the Turkish media think-tank Digital Media and Research Institute, informed.

The surprise moves place Turkey far ahead of the dozens of other countries exploring CBDCs, most of which are yet to commit to pilots.

Turkey joins a growing number of countries exploring CBDCs. 80% of all countries are looking into the technology, according to a January report by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

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