Turkey's external assets fall to $246.3B in January

Turkey's assets abroad reached $246.3 billion (TL 18.13 trillion) as of this January, with a decline of 2.3% from the end of last year, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) data showed Thursday.

Its liabilities against nonresidents fell 0.9% to $638.7 billion during the same period.

The net international investment position (NIIP) – the gap between Turkey's external assets and liabilities – narrowed in the month, reaching minus $392.4 billion in June. The NIIP was minus $404.1 billion at the end of 2020.

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 country's government, the private sector and its citizens.

Reserve assets, a subitem under assets, climbed 2.6% to $95.7 billion in the same period.

Other investments, another subitem under assets, recorded $97.5 billion in January, indicating an increase of 6.6% compared to the end of 2020.

On the liabilities side, direct investment-equity capital plus other capital as of the end of January fell 5.5% to $201.4 billion "with the contribution of the changes in the market value and foreign exchange rates."

In 2020, the average U.S. dollar-Turkish lira rate was around 7.02, while $1 was exchanged for TL 7.39 on average in January.

"FX (foreign exchange) deposits of nonresidents held within the resident banks recorded $34.4 billion at the end of January 2021, reflecting an increase of 3.3% compared to the end of 2020," the bank said.

"Turkish lira deposits increased by 9.4%, recording $17.2 billion," it added.

The central bank said the total external loan stock of the banks amounted to $63.7 billion, a slight decrease of 0.7%, and the total external loan stock of the other sectors was $96.3 billion, declining 0.5% in the same period.