Turkey's short-term external debt stock goes up

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's short-term external debt stock rose 11.1 percent to $108.9 billion at the end of July compared to the end of 2016, Turkey's Central Bank announced Wednesday.

According to the data, Turkish banks’ short-term external debt stock climbed 4.2 percent to $59.8 billion, while other sectors’ short-term external debt stock soared by 20.8 percent to $49 billion.

"From the borrowers' side, the short-term debt of the public sector, mostly made up of public banks, increased by 4 percent to $16.9 billion, and the short-term debt of the private sector increased by 12.5 percent to $91.8 billion compared to the end of 2016." the bank said.

More than half of the country's short-term external debt stock was in dollars -- 52.2 percent -- with almost 30 percent in euros, 15.4 percent in Turkish liras, and 2.9 percent in other currencies.

Short-term debt refers to debt that must be paid in the next 12 months.