Turkey’s external assets stood at $221B in July

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

Turkey's external assets rose by 2.6 percent as of July this year to stand at $221 billion compared with the end of 2016, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) reported on Thursday.

Over the same period, the country's liabilities against non-residents climbed 16.1 percent to reach $670.9 billion, the CBRT said.

The net international investment position (NIIP) -- the gap between Turkey’s assets abroad and liabilities -- amounted to minus $449.9 billion in July while it was minus $362.3 billion at the end of last year.

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.

Reserve assets, a sub-item under assets, were $107.6 billion at the end of July marking a 1.3 percent hike compared with the end of 2016, while other investments were recorded at $71.1 billion, rising 3.8 percent in the same period.

The CBRT said currency and bank deposits, one of the sub-items of other investments, increased by 3 percent to 30.9 billion compared to the end of last year.

On the liabilities side, direct investment -- equity capital plus other capital -- at the end of July recorded $185.3 billion, indicating a 30.8 percent increase compared with the end of 2016 "with the contribution of the changes in the market value and foreign exchange rates," the CBRT reported.

The average USD/TRY rate was 3.02 last year while one dollar was exchanged for 3.63 Turkish liras on average in the first seven month of this year.

Total external loan stock of the banks was $87.6 billion as of July this year, up 0.1 percent from the amount at the end of 2016, "as total external loan stock of the other sectors recorded $106.6 billion increasing by 6.7 percent," the Central Bank noted.