Turkey's external assets at $301.4B in September

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey’s external assets stood at $301.4 billion at the end of September, marking an increase of 17.9% from the end of 2020, according to data released by the Turkish Central Bank said on Thursday.

Liabilities against non-residents dropped 9.1% to $587 billion.

The net International Investment Position (IIP) – the gap between Turkey’s external assets and liabilities – narrowed to minus $285.6 billion at the end of September, from minus $390.4 billion at the end of 2020.

Showing a snapshot in time, the NIIP – which can be either positive or negative – 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.

Reserve assets increased by 30% to $121.3 billion, while other investments climbed 12.1% to $121.5 billion by the end of September.

Currency and bank deposits, one of the sub-items of other investments, amounted to $51.4 billion, up 22.6% from the end of last year.

On the liabilities side, direct investment – equity capital plus other capital – was at $167.1 billion, a decrease of 29% from the end of 2020 “with the contribution of the changes in the market value and foreign exchange rates,” the bank said.

The total external loan stock of banks was $69.2 billion, down 3.3% from the end of last year, while the total for other sectors increased 2.2% to $98.4 billion, the data showed.​​​​​​​