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 October, official data showed on Thursday.

The country's external debt stock -- maturing within one year or less -- rose by 7.8% in October 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 43.6% US dollars, 29.4% euros, 11.4% Turkish liras, and 15.6% other currencies.

The bank's short-term external debt stock posted a decrease of 0.7% to $55.6 billion and other sectors' short-term external debt dropped by 4.6% to $56 billion during the same period.

The rest of the amount -- some $21.2 billion -- belonged to the Central Bank, up from $8.4 billion at the end of the last year.

"From the borrowers side, the short-term debt of public sector, which consists of public banks, increased by 3.3% to $25.9 billion.''

"And the short-term debt of private sector decreased by 4.4% to $85.8 billion compared to the end of 2019," the bank said.

Short-term foreign exchange (FX) loans the banks received from foreign countries rose by 5.4% to $8 billion, the data showed.

Foreign exchange deposits of non-residents -- except in the banking sector -- in resident banks increased by 1.2% in October versus the end of 2019, recording $21.3 billion.

"And FX deposits of non-resident banks recorded $12.5 billion decreasing by 8.3%," it added.

The Central Bank also noted that non-residents' Turkish lira deposits increased by 0.6% and was recorded as $13.7 billion in the same period.