Turkey: Private sector foreign debts on rise

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish private sector’s short-term foreign debt increased by $2 billion by the end of June from the end of 2016, the country's central bank announced Wednesday.

Short-term loan of the sector -- debt that must be paid in the next 12 months -- reached $16.3 billion as of June, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey said in a statement.

The sector's long-term foreign debt also increased by $8.7 billion to $210.9 billion during the same period, the bank said.

"As for the sectoral breakdown by the end of June, of the total long-term loans in the amount of $210.9 billion, 52.1 percent consists of liabilities of the financial institutions, whereas 47.9 percent consists of the liabilities of the non-financial institutions," it said.

The Central Bank also revealed that liabilities of financial institutions and non-financial institutions accounted for 81.6 and 18.4 percent of the private sector’s short-term foreign debt, respectively.

"From the borrower’s side, regarding long-term loans, banks’ loan liabilities decreased by $308 million whereas bond liabilities amounted to $29.8 billion, increasing by $5.4 billion in comparison to the end of 2016," it added.

More than 60 percent of Turkey's private sector long-term debt was in U.S. dollars, with 33.8 percent in euros, 4.3 percent in Turkish liras and 1.8 percent in other currencies.

Almost half of short-term debt was in dollars, 49.1 percent, followed by 30 percent euros, 20.7 percent Turkish liras and 0.2 percent in other currencies.