CORRECTS - Turkey’s external assets rise over $232.8B in Jan.

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's external assets climbed 2.1 percent as of January 2018 to reach $232.8 billion compared to the end of 2017, the Turkish Central Bank reported on Monday.

The country's liabilities against non-residents also rose 4.7 percent to $713.8 billion, the bank said.

The net international investment position (NIIP) -- the gap between Turkey’s assets abroad and liabilities -- amounted to minus $481 billion at the end of this January compared to minus $453.5 billion at the end of 2017.

The NIIP 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, a sub-item under assets, stood at $115.3 billion at the end of January, climbing 7.1 percent compared to the end of last year, while other investments slipped to $73.8 billion, down 4.1 percent during the same period.

"Currency and deposits of banks -- one of the sub-items of other investment -- decreased 7 percent to $32.5 billion compared to the end of 2017," the bank said.

On the liabilities side, direct investment -- equity capital plus other capital -- totaled $196.9 billion at the end of January, up 8.6 percent from the end of 2017 "with the contribution of the changes in the market value and foreign exchange rates," the Central Bank noted.

The average USD/TRY rate was 3.7724 in January, while one dollar was exchanged for 3.6466 Turkish liras on average in 2017.

Banks' external loan stock came in at $93.1 billion, up 0.6 percent compared to the end of 2017, and the total external loan stock of other sectors totaled $111.2 billion, up 2.8 percent," the bank said.