Turkish private sector foreign debt falls in November

ISTANBUL-Anadolu Agency

Turkey's outstanding short-term foreign private-sector debt narrowed in November 2019, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) said on Jan. 16.

The private sector's short-term external loans, excluding trade credits, totaled $10.2 billion, down $5.2 billion in November 2019, compared to the end of the previous year.

The bank's data showed that some 71.5 percent of all short-term loans consisted of liabilities of financial institutions.

Some 49.6 percent of short-term credits were in U.S. dollars, while the rest were in euros (29.6 percent), Turkish liras (20.3 percent) and other currencies (0.5 percent).

On the long-term side, the private sector's overseas loans amounted to $193.5 billion as of the last November, down $15.9 billion versus to the end-2018.

Non-financial institution liabilities constituted 54.5 percent of long-term external loans, the bank noted.

The U.S. dollar dominated long-term loans with 60.9 percent, while the euro and Turkish lira followed it with 33.7 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively.

On a basis of remaining maturity at November-end, the private sector's total outstanding loans received from abroad amounted to $51.8 billion in principal repayments over the next 12 months, the bank added.