Turkey: Private sector external loan debt down in May

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's outstanding short-term foreign private sector loans fell in May, the country's Central Bank (CBRT) said Wednesday.

Excluding trade credits, the private sector's short-term external loans amounted to $12 billion, declining $3.4 billion compared to the end of 2018.

The CBRT said that 72.5% of all short-term loans consisted of liabilities of financial institutions.

On the long-term side, the private sector's overseas loans totaled $204.5 billion as of May, going down $5 billion from the end of last year.

Financial institution liabilities constituted 48.1% of long-term external loans, the bank said.

"Regarding the currency composition, of the total long-term loans in the amount of $204.5 billion. 60.9% consists of U.S. dollar, 33.9% consists of euro, 3.8% consists of Turkish lira and 1.3% consists of other currencies.

"And of the total short-term loans in the amount of $12 billion, 48.4% consists of U.S. dollar, 33.4% consists of euro, 18% consists of Turkish lira and 0.2% consist of other currencies," the CBRT said.

The bank added that principal repayments of the private sector’s total outstanding external loans were $58.6 billion for the next 12 months by the end of May.