Turkey's gross debt stock stands at $231.5B in July

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish government’s gross debt stock stood at 817.1 billion Turkish liras (nearly $231.5 billion) at the end of July, the Treasury said Monday.

In July, the gross debt stock -- the outstanding debt of public sector institutions, the Central Bank, private companies and households -- increased by 14.8 percent, compared with 711.8 billion Turkish liras (around $236.5 billion) of debt stock in the same month in 2016.

According to the Turkish Central Bank, the U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 3.53 at the end of last month while one dollar was traded for 3.01 Turkish liras on July, 29, 2016.

The Treasury noted that most of the debt -- 504.6 billion Turkish liras ($143 billion) -- was in local currency while 312.5 billion liras ($88.5 billion) of debt were denominated in foreign currency.

Last month, the central government debt stock rose 0.65 percent from 811.8 billion Turkish liras (approximately $231.3 billion) at the end of June this year.