Turkey’s external assets at over $243B in February

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's external assets totaled $243.6 billion as of February this year, the country’s Central Bank announced on Thursday.

External assets went up 4% since the end of 2018, while liabilities against non-residents surged 3.3% to $606.5 billion, said the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT).

"The NIIP [net international investment position], defined as the difference between Turkey’s external assets and liabilities, posted minus $362.9 billion at the end of February 2019, in comparison to minus $353.1 billion observed at the end of 2018," the bank said in a statement.

Showing a snapshot in time, the NIIP -- which can be either positive or negative -- is the value of overseas assets owned by a nation, minus the value of domestic assets owned by foreigners, including overseas assets and liabilities held by a nation’s government, the private sector, and its individual citizens.

Reserve assets increased 7.6% to reach $100.1 billion, while other investment categories totaled $91.1 billion, up 2.3%.

"Currency and deposits of banks, one of the sub-items of other investment, recorded $47.9 billion indicating an increase of 7.3% compared to the end of 2018," the bank noted.

Direct investment -- equity capital plus other capital -- at the end of February rose by 4.5% to $141.8 billion versus the end of last year.

Lenders' total external loan stock slipped to $79 billion last February, down 3.1% compared to the end of 2018.

"Total external loan stock of the other sectors recorded $105.5 billion decreasing by 1.3%," it added.