Turkey: Short-term external debt stock at $118B in Dec

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's short-term external debt stock amounted to $118.2 billion as of the end of December, fresh data showed on Thursday.

The country's external debt stock -- maturing within one year or less -- soared by 4.3% in December versus the end of 2018, according to the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT).

Official data revealed that the currency breakdown of the debt stock was composed of 48.1% U.S. dollars, 30.9% euros, 13.3% Turkish liras and 7.7% other currencies.

Banks' short-term external debt stock posted a decrease of 1.7% to $56.2 billion and other sectors' short-term external debt stock rose by 6.6% to $53.6 billion during the same period.

The rest of the amount -- some $8.4 billion -- belonged to the CBRT.

"From the borrowers side, the short-term debt of public sector, which consists of public banks, decreased by 3.1% to $21.8 billion.''

"And the short-term debt of private sector increased by 3.6% to $88 billion compared to the end of 2018," the bank said.

Short-term foreign exchange (FX) loans the banks received from foreign countries fell by 29.7% to $7.8 billion, the data showed.

Foreign exchange deposits of non-residents -- except in the banking sector -- in resident banks rose by 11% in December versus the end of 2018, recording $21.1 billion.

"And FX deposits of non-resident banks recorded $13.7 billion increasing by 5%," it added.

The CBRT also noted that non-residents' Turkish lira deposits decreased by 2.9% and was recorded as $13.6 billion in the same period.