Turkey’s short-term external debt stock dropped in October

ANKARA

Turkey’s short-term external debt stock — debt that must be paid in the next 12 months — dropped by 1.7 percent from the end of 2017 to $116.6 billion in October, the Turkish Central Bank reported on Dec. 17.

“Specifically, in this period, banks’ short-term external debt stock decreased by 11.9 percent to $59.2 billion and other sectors’ short-term external debt stock increased by 1.9 percent to $51.7 billion,” the bank said in a statement.

The short-term debt of the public sector — mainly composed of public banks — increased 3.7 percent compared to the end of 2017 to $22.9 billion in October.

The private sector’s short-term foreign debt dropped by 8.2 percent to $88 billion during the same period.

Almost half the country’s short-term external debt stock was in dollars — 49.5 percent —followed by 29.8 percent in euros, 18.4 percent in Turkish Liras, and 2.3 percent in other currencies.