Turkey: Private sector loans from abroad on rise

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA

The Turkish private sector's outstanding long-term loans received from abroad rose to $225.7 billion in January 2018, while short-term loans stood at $18.9 billion, according to an official report on Thursday.

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) announced that the private sector's pending long-term loans from abroad rose $5 billion whereas short-term loans -- excluding trade credits -- increased by $506 million compared to the end of 2017.

By definition, short-term loans have an original maturity of one year or less while long-term loans have an original maturity of more than one year.

"As for the sectoral breakdown by the end of January, of the total long-term loans in the amount of $225.7 billion, 51.2 percent consist of liabilities of the financial institutions, whereas 48.8 percent consist of the liabilities of the non-financial institutions," the CBRT said.

"In the same period, of the total short-term loans in the amount of $18.9 billion, 75.6 percent consist of liabilities of the financial institutions, whereas 24.4 percent consist of liabilities of the non-financial institutions," the bank added.

Regarding the currency composition, 58 percent of the total long-term loans were U.S. dollar loans, 35.5 percent are in euros, 4.8 percent were in Turkish lira and 1.7 percent from other currencies, as noted in the report.:

"And of the total short-term loans in the amount of $18.9 billion, 46.6 percent consist of U.S. dollars, 27.7 percent consist of euros and 25.7 percent consist of Turkish lira.

"The private sector’s total outstanding loans received from abroad based on a remaining maturity basis point out to principal repayments in the amount of $71.6 billion for the next 12 months by the end of January."

The central bank periodically releases the data for the private sector’s long and short-term loans received from abroad by gathering details from credit-based forms submitted by resident financial institutions and companies.

The bank's next report is slated to be issued on Monday, April 16.