Banknote (efektif) rate vs forex rate
The forex rate (döviz kuru) applies when money changes hands between accounts: a transfer, a foreign-currency account, a card payment. The banknote rate (efektif kur) is the rate for physical banknotes.
Two rates, two kinds of transaction
A bank buying dollars into your foreign-currency account is a forex transaction: no banknotes move, only account balances. Taking banknotes over the counter at a branch or an exchange office is a banknote transaction.
Banknotes have to be shipped, stored, insured and counted. That is why the gap between the buying and selling rate, the spread, is usually wider for banknotes than for forex in the same currency.
Banknote rates in the CBRT bulletin
The CBRT (TCMB) announces its indicative rates at 15:30 on every business day. The bulletin gives each currency a forex buying and a forex selling rate; for some currencies it adds a banknote buying and a banknote selling rate.
Source: tcmb.gov.tr ·
Banknote rates are not published for every currency. The bulletin of 5 October 2026 (No. 2026/187) carried banknote rates for 12 of its 21 currencies (US dollar, euro, pound sterling, Swiss franc, Japanese yen, Canadian and Australian dollars, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian kroner, Saudi riyal, Kuwaiti dinar); the Romanian leu, Russian ruble, Chinese yuan, Pakistani rupee, Qatari riyal, South Korean won, Azerbaijani manat, UAE dirham and Kazakh tenge had forex rates only. The bulletin's 22nd row is the SDR, which is not a currency.
Source: tcmb.gov.tr ·
The CBRT banknote rate is indicative: it is not the rate a bank or an exchange office applies to banknotes. Each institution sets its own buying and selling prices.
Reading it on our pages
The CBRT rates page shows the bulletin in four columns: forex buying, forex selling, banknote buying, banknote selling. The live price on a currency page is the free market's buy and sell; its source and time are printed beside every price.
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This content is for information only; it is not investment advice.