Turkey’s treasury has completed technical work to issue “gold bonds and gold-based lease certificates” by the end of the year in an attempt at luring tonnes of “under mattress” gold back into the economy, Deputy PM Mehmet Simsek said on June 27, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

At an average of 181 tonnes/year over the past 10 years, Turkey has stood as the world’s fourth largest consumer of gold, accounting for around 6 percent of global consumer demand, the newspaper said, citing a 2015 report by the World Gold Council (WGC).

According to the newspaper, the WGC estimated that Turkish households have accumulated at least 3,500 tonnes of gold “under-the-pillow,” worth over $140bn, while according to Turkish experts this volume may hit 5,000 tonnes by 2017.

After the usual Q4 uplift, demand in Turkey sank to a four-year low of 7.7 tonnes, the WGC said in its Gold Demand Trends Q1 report, published on May 4.

“Continued currency weakness in Turkey meant that the price of gold in lira rose more than in any other currency during Q1 (+12%), undermining jewellery demand. And the outlook for the market is weak as the local price remains prohibitively high for many at a time of deteriorating economic indicators,” the WGC argued.

“We have completed technical works for the issuance of new financial instruments that will enable us to attract many tonnes of under-the-mattress gold into the economy. The legal framework is about to be finalised. We will offer these instruments to the market this year,” Simsek said.

“We want to liquidate the under-the-pillow gold for the use of the economy and to reduce the financial sourcing needs of the system. The new financial instruments would be sold at Ziraat Bank branches in the initial stage,” he added.