By Tuba Ongun
Türkiye's short-term external debt stock hit $177.4 billion as of the end of 2023, according to official data released on Monday.
A Turkish Central Bank statement said that the foreign debt due to be paid over the next 12 months increased 17.2% from a year earlier.
In this period, lenders' short-term external debt stock gained 10.1% to $68.4 billion, while other sectors' short-term external debt stock rose 10.8% to $59.6 billion.
The trade credits due to imports under other sectors amounted to $52.5 billion in December 2023, a hike of 7.8% from the end of 2022.
"From the borrowers' side, the short-term debt of the public sector, which consists of public banks, increased by 19.3% to $34.5 billion, and the short-term debt of the private sector increased by 7.5% to $93.6 billion compared to the end of 2022," it added.
As of the end of last year, some 50.3% of the debt stock was in US dollars, 23.3% in euros, 10% in Turkish liras, and the remaining 16.4% in other currencies.