Turkey's gross debt stock stands at $234B in February

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish government’s gross debt stock climbed to 896.8 billion Turkish liras (nearly $234 billion) as of Feb. 28, the country’s Treasury announced on Tuesday.

In February, the central government's gross debt stock -- the outstanding debt of public sector institutions, the Central Bank, private companies and households -- rose 14.5 percent year-on-year, compared with 783.1 billion Turkish liras (around $216 billion) in February 2017.

The USD/TRY rate was 3.7869 on average last month, while one dollar was traded for 3.6632 Turkish liras averagely in February last year.

Some 543.9 billion Turkish liras (around $143.6 billion), or 60.6 percent, of the debt was denominated in liras while 353 billion liras (almost $93.2 billion) were in foreign currency.

The stock of Treasury receivables stood at 17.4 billion Turkish liras (around $4.49 billion) at the end of February.

The Undersecretariat of Treasury reported that receivables from local governments constituted the largest share last month with a stock of 11.4 billion liras (nearly $3.01 billion), while the total amount of receivables collected by the Treasury stood at 346.6 billion liras (around $91.5 million) as of Feb. 28.