Turkey: External assets hit $240.6B at end-2020

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's external assets stood at $240.6 billion at the end of 2020, down 5% from the end of 2019, the Turkish Central Bank announced Friday.

The country's liabilities against non-residents climbed 7.3% to hit $643.5 billion in the same period, a bank statement said.

The net international investment position (NIIP) – the difference between Turkey’s external assets and liabilities – was minus $402.9 billion at the end of December 2020, in comparison to minus $346.5 billion at the end of 2019, the statement said.

Showing a snapshot in time, the NIIP – which can be either positive or negative – is the value of overseas assets owned by a nation, minus the value of domestic assets owned by foreigners, including overseas assets and liabilities held by a country’s government, the private sector, and its citizens.

Reserve assets, a sub-item under assets, reached $93.3 billion at the end of last year, a decrease of 11.7% from December 2019.

Other investments, another sub-item under assets, slipped 3.9% to $91.4 billion during the same period.

“Currency and deposits of banks, one of the sub-items of other investment, recorded $41.9 billion indicating a decrease of 11.8% compared to the end of 2019,” the bank noted.

On the liabilities side, direct investment – equity capital plus other capital – as of end-2020 was $213.1 billion, jumping 30.2% “with the contribution of the changes in the market value and foreign exchange rates.”

In 2019, the average US dollar/Turkish lira rate was around 5.68, while one dollar was exchanged for 7.02 liras on average in 2020.

“FX [foreign exchange] deposits of non-residents held within the resident banks recorded $33.4 billion at the end of December 2020, reflecting a decrease of 3.3% compared to the end of 2019,” the bank said.

“Turkish lira deposits increased by 15.3% recording $15.7 billion,” it added.

The Central Bank said that total external loan stock of the banks amounted to $63.8 billion, down 5.5% and total external loan stock of the other sectors was $96.7 billion, declining 1.7% in the same period.