Turkey: Private sector foreign debt falls in November

ANKARA

The outstanding short- and long-term debts of Turkey’s private sector declined in November 2020, the Turkish Central Bank said on Thursday.

The private sector’s short-term overseas loans – excluding trade credits – were $8.6 billion in November, down by $136 million compared to the end of 2019.

Liabilities of financial institutions were 83.5% of all short-term loans, the bank said.

A major chunk of the short-term credit – 41.1% – was in US dollars, followed by 35.3% in euros, 20.6% in Turkish liras, and 3% in other currencies.

On the long-term side, the private sector’s external loans totaled $160.9 billion as of November, down by $18.4 billion from the end of 2019.

Non-financial institution liabilities constituted 56.7% of long-term external loans.

Most of the long-term loans – 62.6% – were in US dollars, followed by the euro and Turkish lira at 33.4% and 2.1%, respectively.

The private sector’s total outstanding loans received from abroad, based on a remaining maturity basis, point to principal repayments of $41.2 billion for the next 12 months by the end of November, the bank said.