Turkey: Private sector's external debt up in June

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish private sector’s outstanding foreign loans in June totaled $174 billion, up $486 million compared to end-2020, the Turkish Central Bank announced Wednesday.

The short-term loans – excluding trade credits – of the sector received from abroad were at $9.5 billion as of June, down $200 million from the end of last year.

Some 83.8% 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, 35.2%, was in euros, with 40.3% in US dollars, 20.7% in Turkish liras, and 3.8% in other currencies.

The private sector's long-term debt rose $686 million to $164.5 billion in the same period.

The bank said 40.8% of the total long-term foreign loans were owed by financial institutions.

"Regarding the currency composition, of the total long-term loans in the amount of $164.5 billion, 61.3% consists of dollars, 34.8% consists of euros, 2.2% consists of Turkish liras, 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 $41.6 billion for the next 12 months by the end of June.