Turkey’s external assets rise in February

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's external assets rose 2.4 percent as of February 2018 to reach $233.6 billion compared to the end of 2017, the Turkish Central Bank revealed on Wednesday.

The country's liabilities against non-residents also increased 2.9 percent to $702.2 billion, the bank said.

The net international investment position (NIIP) -- the gap between Turkey’s assets abroad and liabilities -- amounted to minus $468.7 billion at the end of this February compared with minus $454.5 billion at the end of 2017.

The NIIP 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 citizens.

"As regards to sub-items under assets, at the end of February 2018, reserve assets recorded $114.6 billion indicating an increase of 6.3 percent, while other investment recorded $74.6 billion, indicating a decrease of 3.1 percent compared to the end of 2017," the bank said.

The banks' currency and deposits -- one of the sub-items of other investment -- slipped 4.8 percent to $33.3 billion during the same period.

On the liabilities side, direct investment -- equity capital plus other capital -- rose to $181.4 billion at the end of previous month, up 0.1 percent from the end of 2017 due to changes in the market value and foreign exchange rates, the Central Bank noted.

The average USD/TRY rate was 3.7869 in February, while one dollar was exchanged for 3.6466 Turkish liras on average in 2017.

The bank added that banks' external loan stock totaled $94.8 billion in the month, rising 1 percent from the end of 2017, and the total external loan stock of other sectors totaled $112.6 billion, up 4.4 percent.