Turkey’s external assets at around $225B in June

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA

Turkey's external assets totaled $224.7 billion as of June this year, down 3.5 percent from the end of 2017, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) announced Friday.

The country's liabilities against non-residents fell to $628.1 billion, going down 9.2 percent in the same period, the bank said.

The net international investment position (NIIP) -- the gap between Turkey’s assets abroad and liabilities -- was minus $403.4 billion in June versus minus $459.3 billion at the end of last year.

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 citizens.

Reserve assets, a sub-item under assets, were $98.4 billion at the end of June -- down 8.7 percent from the end of 2017 -- while other investments totaled $75.2 billion, down 1.6 percent over the same period.

The data also showed that currency and bank deposits, one of the sub-items of other investments, fell 5.5 percent to $33 billion compared to the end of 2017.

On the liabilities side, direct investment -- equity capital plus other capital -- as of the end of June was $144.8 billion, down 23.5 percent from the end of last year, with the contribution of the changes in market value and foreign exchange rates, the bank said.

"Total external loan stock of the banks recorded $93.8 billion, decreasing by 1 percent compared to the end of 2017, and total external loan stock of the other sectors recorded $110.2 billion, increasing by 1.9 percent," the bank added.

The NIIP was minus $403.4 billion in the second quarter of 2018. It was minus $439.5 in the second quarter of last year.