Turkish private sector's external debt up in August

ISTANBUL

The Turkish private sector’s outstanding foreign loans in August totaled $173.4 billion, up slightly by $50 million compared to end-2020, the Turkish Central Bank announced Thursday.

The short-term loans – excluding trade credits – of the sector received from abroad were at $8.9 billion as of August, down $835 million from the end of last year.

Some 83.4% of short-term loans consisted of the liabilities of financial institutions, the bank said.

Broken down by currency, 36.3% of Turkey's short-term credit was in euros, 35.3% in US dollars, 25.1% in Turkish liras, and 3.3% in other currencies.

The private sector's long-term debt rose $886 million to $164.5 billion in the same period.

The bank said 40.1% of the total long-term foreign loans were owed by financial institutions.

"Regarding the currency composition, of the total long-term loans amounting to $164.5 billion, 61.5% consists of USD, 34.4% consists of Euro, 2.3% consists of Turkish lira and 1.8% consists of other currencies," it said.

The private sector’s total outstanding loans received from abroad, based on a remaining maturity basis, point to principal repayments of $40.4 billion for the next 12 months by the end of August.