Turkey: Private sector's external debt down in July

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish private sector’s outstanding foreign loans shrank in July compared to end-2019, the Turkish Central Bank announced Wednesday.

The short-term loans – excluding trade credits – of the sector received from abroad were at $8.5 billion as of July 2020, down $199 million from the end of December 2019.

Some 83.5% of short-term loans consisted of the liabilities of financial institutions, the bank said.

Broken down by currency, the majority of Turkey's short-term credit, 43.4%, was in euros, with 39.3% in US dollars, 15.1% in Turkish liras, and 2.2% in other currencies.

The private sector's long-term debts fell $16.8 billion to $162.2 billion in the same period.

The bank said 43.7% of the total long-term foreign loans were owed by financial institutions.

"Regarding the currency composition of the total long-term loans, 62.8% consists of US dollars, 34.0% euros, 2.5% Turkish liras and 0.7% consists of other currencies," it said.

The private sector’s total outstanding loans received from abroad, based on a remaining maturity basis, point to principal repayments of $41.9 billion for the next 12 months by the end of July.