Turkey: Short-term external debt stock at $132.8B

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's short-term external debt stock amounted to $132.8 billion as of the end of August, official data showed on Friday.

The country's external debt stock -- maturing within one year or less -- rose by 7.8% in August versus the end of 2019, according to the Turkish Central Bank.

Official data revealed that the currency breakdown of the debt stock was composed of 41.7% US dollars, 29.3% euros, 13.4% Turkish liras, and 15.6% other currencies.

Banks' short-term external debt stock posted an increase of 4.8% to $58.8 billion and other sectors' short-term external debt dropped by 9.1% to $53.4 billion during the same period.

The rest of the amount -- some $20.6 billion -- belonged to the Central Bank, up from $8.4 billion at the end of the last year, according to the bank's data.

"From the borrowers side, the short-term debt of public sector, which consists of public banks, increased by 10.6% to $27.7 billion.''

"And the short-term debt of private sector decreased by 5.9% to $84.5 billion compared to the end of 2019," the bank said.

Short-term foreign exchange (FX) loans the banks received from foreign countries rose by 10.3% to $8.5 billion, the data showed.

Foreign exchange deposits of non-residents -- except in the banking sector -- in resident banks increased by 3.2% in August versus the end of 2019, recording $21.7 billion.

"And FX deposits of non-resident banks recorded $12.2 billion decreasing by 10.9%," it added.

The central bank also noted that non-residents' Turkish lira deposits increased by 20.1% and was recorded as $16.4 billion in the same period.