Turkey: External assets hit $248.9B in February

ANKARA

Turkey's external assets amounted to $248.9 billion at the end of February, up 3.4% from 2020, the Turkish Central Bank announced on Monday.

The country's liabilities against non-residents during the same period rose 1.4% to $636 billion.

The net international investment position (NIIP) – the difference between external assets and liabilities – was minus $387.1 billion, versus minus $404.5 billion over the same period in 2020.

As 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 $95.3 billion at the end of February, up 2.2% from the end of last year.

Other investments, another sub-item under assets, totaled $100.2 billion, also indicating a rise of 9.7% in the same period.

"Currency and deposits of banks, one of the sub-items of other investment, recorded USD 50.7 billion indicating an increase of 21% compared to the end of 2020," the Central Bank said.

On the liabilities side, direct investments – equity capital plus other capital – as of the end of February were $195.3 billion, up 8.4%, including the effects of changes in market value and foreign exchange rates.

Non-residents' foreign exchange deposits were $34.6 billion, up 3.8% in February versus the end of 2020.

The Central Bank added that Turkish lira deposits rose 14.1% to $17.9 billion.

It said banks' total external loan stock amounted to $64.1 billion and total external loan stock of the other sectors was $97.2 billion, down 0.2%, compared to the end of 2020.