Turkey: External assets hit $232.1B in July

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's external assets stood at $232.1 billion at the end of July, falling 8.4% from the end of 2019, the Turkish Central Bank announced on Friday.

The country's liabilities against non-residents increased 2.2% to hit $611 billion during the same period.

“The NIIP [net international investment position], defined as the difference between Turkey’s external assets and liabilities, posted minus $378.9 billion at the end of July 2020, in comparison to minus $344.5 billion at the end of 2019,” the bank said.

Showing a snapshot in time, the NIIP – which can be either positive or negative – 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 country’s government, the private sector, and its citizens.

Reserve assets, a sub-item under assets, were $90.3 billion at the end of July, down 14.6% from the end of last year.

Other investments, another sub-item under assets, totaled $88.1 billion, a decrease of 7.3% in the same period.

“Currency and deposits of banks, one of the sub-items of other investment, recorded $46.7 billion, indicating a decrease of 1.7% compared to the end of 2019,” the bank noted.

On the liabilities side, direct investment – equity capital plus other capital – as of the end of July was $201.8 billion.

The figure was down 23.3% from the end of 2019 “with the contribution of the changes in the market value and foreign exchange rates.”

In 2019, the average US dollar/Turkish lira rate was around 5.68, while one dollar was exchanged for 6.87 liras on average this July.

“Foreign exchange deposits of non-residents held within the resident banks recorded $32.6 billion at the end of July 2020, reflecting a decrease of 6.2% compared to the end of 2019,” the bank said.

“Turkish lira deposits increased by 15%, recording $15.7 billion.”

The Central Bank said that total external loan stock of the banks amounted to $63.6 billion – down 6.3% – and total external loan stock of the other sectors was $93.3 billion, declining 3% in the same period.