Turkey: Short-term external debt stock hits $134B

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's short-term external debt stock totaled $134 billion as of the end of September, according to official data released on Tuesday.

The country's external debt stock -- maturing within one year or less -- rose by 8.8% in September compared to the end of 2019, the Turkish Central Bank announced.

Official data showed that the currency breakdown of the debt stock was composed of 43.2% US dollars, 29% euros, 12.3% Turkish liras, and 15.5% other currencies.

Banks' short-term external debt stock posted an increase of 1.9% to $57.1 billion and other sectors' short-term external debt dropped by 4.8% to $55.9 billion during the same period.

The rest of the amount -- some $21 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 4.7% to $26.2 billion

"And the short-term debt of private sector decreased by 3.3% to $86.8 billion compared to the end of 2019," the bank said.

Short-term foreign exchange (FX) loans that banks received from foreign countries rose by 21.4% to $9.3 billion, the data showed.

FX deposits of non-residents -- except in the banking sector -- in resident banks increased by 1.7% in September versus the end of 2019, recording $21.4 billion.

"And FX deposits of non-resident banks recorded U$11.5 billion decreasing by 15.6%," it added.

The central bank also noted that non-residents' Turkish lira deposits increased by 8.7% and was recorded as $14.8 billion in the same period.