Turkish private sector foreign debt falls in November

ANKARA

Turkey’s outstanding foreign debts in the private sector decreased in the period from December 2017 to November 2018, the Central Bank has said.

Long-term debts of the sector reached $213.3 billion as of November, decreasing $8.8 billion from the end of 2017, the bank said in a written statement on Jan. 16.

It also said the sector’s short-term loans dropped by $3.1 billion to $15.5 billion during the same period.

“As for the sectoral breakdown by the end of November, of the total long-term loans in the amount of $213.3 billion, 47.9 percent consist of liabilities of the financial institutions, whereas 52.1 percent consists of the liabilities of the non-financial institutions,” the statement said.

It added: “In the same period, of the total short-term loans in the amount of $15.5 billion, 73.1 percent consists of liabilities of the financial institutions, whereas 26.9 percent consists of liabilities of the non-financial institutions.”

Some 59.6 percent of Turkey’s private sector long-term debt was in U.S. dollars, with 34.7 percent in euros, 4.1 percent in Turkish liras, and 1.6 percent in other currencies.

By definition, short-term loans have an original maturity of one year or less while long-term loans have an original maturity of more than one year.