Turkey’s external assets reach nearly $220B in May

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's external assets rose by 1.8 percent in the first five months of this year to reach $219.4 billion compared with the end of 2016, according to the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) on Wednesday.

The country's liabilities against non-residents also increased by 11.4 percent to reach $638.9 billion over the same period, the CBRT data showed.

The net international investment position (NIIP) -- the gap between Turkey’s assets abroad and liabilities -- recorded minus $419.5 billion in May while it was minus $358 billion at the end of last year.

The NIIP is the value of overseas assets owned by a nation, minus the value of domestic assets owned by foreigners, including overseas assets and liabilities held by a nation’s government, the private sector and its citizens.

The reserve assets, a sub-item under assets, stood at $105.4 billion at the end of May marking a decrease of 0.8 percent compared with the end of 2016, while other investments were recorded at $71.6 billion, up 4.7 percent over the end of last year.

Currency and deposits of banks, a sub-item of other investments, were recorded at $32.2 billion, indicating an increase of 7.8 percent in the same period, the figures revealed.

On the liabilities side, direct investment -- equity capital plus other capital -- at the end of May increased by 25.5 percent to $171.5 billion compared with the end of 2016 "with the contribution of the changes in the market value and foreign exchange rates", the CBRT reported.

One U.S. dollar was traded for 3.02 Turkish liras on average last year. In the first five months of 2017, the U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 3.66 on average.

The Central Bank also noted that total external loan stock of the banks was $87.6 billion as of May this year, down 0.8 percent from the figure at the end of 2016, while the other business sectors' total external loan increased by 3.6 percent to stand at $103.3 billion over the same period.