Turkey: Private sector short-term external loans down

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's outstanding short-term foreign loans in the private sector decreased in March, the country's Central Bank said Thursday.

Excluding trade credits, private sector's short-term external loans totaled $12.1 billion, going down $3.3 billion from the end of 2018.

The bank said 70.8% of all short-term loans were owed by financial institutions.

Official figures also revealed that the private sector's long-term external loans amounted to some $210.2 billion as of March, marking a $127 million hike compared to the end of 2018.

The bank said liabilities of the financial institutions constituted 48.9% of the long-term foreign loans.

"Regarding the currency composition, of the total long-term loans in the amount of $210.2 billion, 60.9% consists of U.S. dollar, 33.7% consists of euro, 4.1% consists of the Turkish lira and 1.3% consists of other currencies.

"Of the total short-term loans in the amount of $12.1 billion, 43.2% consists of U.S. dollar, 35.5% consists of euro, 20.9% consists of the Turkish lira and 0.4% consists of other currencies," the bank said.

By the end of March, principal repayments of the private sector’s total outstanding foreign loans were $60.4 billion for the next 12 months.