Turkey: Private sector foreign debt down in October

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The outstanding short-and long-term debts of Turkey’s private sector posted declines this October, the Turkish Central Bank said on Wednesday.

The private sector's short-term overseas loans -- excluding trade credits -- were $7.9 billion in October, down $845 million compared to the end of the last year.

Some 83.7% of short-term loans consisted of the liabilities of financial institutions, the bank said.

Broken down by currency, the majority of Turkey's short-term credit, 40.4%, was in the US dollars, with 39% in euros, 17.4% in Turkish liras, and 3.2% in other currencies.

Meanwhile, the private sector's long-term debts fell by $18.1 billion to $161.2 billion in the same period, versus the end of 2019.

The bank said 43.5% of the total long-term foreign loans were owed by financial institutions and 56.5% by non-financial institutions.

"Regarding the currency composition, of the total long-term loans in the amount of $161.2 billion, 62.4% consists of USD, 33.8% consists of Euro, 2.1% consists of the Turkish lira and 1.7% 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 $40.7 billion for the next 12 months by the end of October.