Turkey's external assets at $249.9B in April

ANKARA

Turkey's external assets amounted to $249.9 billion at April-end, down 4.4% from 2020, the Turkish Central Bank announced Monday.

The country's liabilities against non-residents during the same period fell 9.1% to $593.5 billion.

The net international investment position (NIIP) – the difference between external assets and liabilities – was minus $343.5 billion, versus minus $413.1 billion at the end of 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, private sector and its citizens.

Reserve assets, a sub-item under assets, were $88 billion at the end of April, down 5.7% from the end of last year.

Other investments, another sub-item under assets, totaled $106.4 billion, indicating an increase of 15.5% in the same period.

"Currency and deposits of banks, one of the sub-items of other investment, recorded $52.8 billion, indicating an increase of 25.9% 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 April were $161.4 billion, down 26.8%, including the effects of changes in market value and foreign exchange rates.

Non-residents' foreign exchange deposits were $33.9 billion, up 1.7% in April versus the end of 2020.

The bank added that Turkish lira deposits rose 1.5%, recording $16 billion.

It said banks' total external loan stock amounted to $66 billion – up 2.8% – and total external loan stock of the other sectors was $97 billion in the same period.