Turkey's external assets at $225.8B in April

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's external assets hit $225.8 billion at the end of April, down 10.9% from the end of 2019, the Turkish Central Bank announced on Friday.

The country’s liabilities against non-residents also fell 8.1% to hit $550.2 billion during the same period.

“The net IIP [international investment position], defined as the difference between Turkey’s external assets and liabilities, posted minus 324.4 billion at the end of April, in comparison to minus $345 billion observed at the end of 2019,” the bank said.

The net international investment position – which can be either positive or negative – is the value of overseas assets owned by a country, minus the value of domestic assets owned by foreigners, including overseas assets and liabilities held by a country’s government, the private sector, and its citizens.

Reserve assets, a sub-item under assets, were $86.3 billion at the end of April, down 18.3% from the end of last year.

Other investments, another sub-item under assets, totaled $86.5 billion, also indicating a 9% fall in the same period.

“Currency and deposits of banks, one of the sub-items of other investment, were recorded at $45.1 billion, indicating a decrease of 5.1% compared to the end of 2019," the bank said.

On the liabilities side, direct investment – equity capital plus other capital – at the end of April was $145 billion.

The figure was down 9.5% compared to the end of last year “with the contribution of the changes in the market value and foreign exchange rates.”

In 2019, the average US dollar/Turkish lira rate was around 5.68, while one dollar was exchanged for 6.83 liras on average this April.

“Foreign exchange deposits of non-residents held within the resident banks were recorded at $32.2 billion at the end of April 2020, reflecting a decrease of 7.5% compared to the end of 2019,” the bank said.

It added that Turkish lira deposits rose 4.5% to $14.2 billion.

The Central Bank said the total external loan stock of the banks amounted to $65.2 billion – down 3% – and total external loan stock of the other sectors was $96.4 billion, down 2.9% in the same period.