Turkey: External assets hit $251.4B in February

ANKARA

Turkey's external assets hit $251.4 billion as of this February, inching down 0.2% from the end of 2019, the Turkish Central Bank announced Monday.

The country's liabilities against non-residents also fell 3.3% to hit $584.2 billion during the same period.

"The NIIP [net international investment position], defined as the difference between Turkey’s external assets and liabilities, posted minus $332.8 billion at the end of February 2020, in comparison to minus $352.1 billion observed at the end of 2019," the bank said.

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 $107.7 billion at the end of February, up 2.1% from the end of last year.

Other investments, another sub-item under assets, totaled $92.7 billion, down 3.3% in the same period.

"Currency and deposits of banks, one of the sub-items of other investments, were recorded at $44.8 billion, indicating a decrease of 5.7% compared to the end of 2019," the bank noted.

On the liabilities side, direct investment – equity capital plus other capital – as of the end of February was $155.6 billion.

The figure was down 6.4% compared to the end of last year "with the contribution of the changes in the market value and foreign exchange rates."

In 2019, the average U.S. dollar/Turkish lira rate was around 5.68, as one dollar was exchanged for 5.35 liras on average this February.

"Foreign exchange deposits of non-residents held within the resident banks were recorded at $34.8 billion at the end of February 2020, reflecting an increase of 0.1% compared to the end of 2019.

"And Turkish lira deposits increased by 13.4%, recording $15.5 billion," the bank said.

The Central Bank said that total external loan stock of the banks amounted to $65.5 billion – down 2.1% – and total external loan stock of the other sectors was $96.4 billion, down 1.9% in the same period.