Turkey will expand its drive to lure savers back to the lira next week with a scheme aimed at bringing billions of dollars worth of  “under the mattress” gold into the banking system, the country’s finance minister told investors during a visit to London.

Nureddin Nebati, who this week made his first trip to the UK since being appointed at the end of last year, said that the government hoped that 10 per cent of the estimated $250bn worth of gold kept by Turks in their homes would be converted into lira under the initiative, according to two participants at the event.

Nebati said that 30,000 gold shops would play a central role in the scheme, which will build on a broader package of emergency measures unveiled in December in order to halt a freefall in the lira, which lost 44 per cent of its value against the dollar in 2021.