Turkey: Private sector foreign debt down in February

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - The outstanding short and long-term debt of Turkey's private sector fell in February, the country's Central Bank said on Thursday.

The private sector's short-term overseas loans, excluding trade credits, were $7.7 billion in February, down by $1.4 billion compared to the end of 2019.

Meanwhile, liabilities of financial institutions were 75.9% of all short-term loans, according to the bank.

A major chunk of the short-term credit, 42.2%, was in U.S. dollars while the rest were in euros (33.1%), Turkish liras (24.1%) and other currencies (0.6%).

On the long-term side, the private sector's external loans totaled $177.9 billion as of February, down $2.9 billion against the end of 2019.

Non-financial institution liabilities constituted 57.3% of long-term external loans.

Most of the long-term loans, 61.9%, were in U.S. dollars, followed by the euro and Turkish lira at 33.2% and 3.2%, respectively.

The bank added that the remaining maturity of the private sector's total outstanding loans received from abroad as of the end of February indicated principal repayments of $44.5 billion over the next 12 months.