Turkey's external assets rise 7.6 pct

Turkey's external assets in the first eight months of 2016 rose 7.6 percent compared to the end of last year to reach $226 billion, according to the Turkish Central Bank data yesterday. Liabilities also increased 4.1 percent to reach $614.4 billion over the same period. The net international investment position or NIIP, the gap between Turkey's assets abroad and liabilities, came close to minus $388.5 billion in August while it was minus $380 billion at the end of 2015.

The NIIP 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.

The NIIP figures revealed that the reserve assets, a sub-item under assets, reached $123 billion at the end of August showing an increase of 11.2 percent compared to the end of last year, while other investments were recorded at $64.4 billion, which is 2.5 percent higher than the figure at the end of 2015.

Currency and deposits of banks, a sub-item of other investments, were recorded at $25.9 billion indicating an increase of 11.4 percent over the end of last year. On the liabilities side, direct investment at the end of August slightly decreased by 0.8 percent to $147.1 billion compared to the end of 2015 "due to changes in the market value and foreign exchange rates," according to the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT).

The CBRT reported that total external loan stock of the banks was $90.8 billion as of August 2016, indicating a decrease of 2.1 percent compared to the end of 2015 while the other business sectors' total external loan stock reached $108.3 billion with an increase of 9.8 percent. Turkey's national income was close to $721 billion in 2015, and the country's debts were 34 percent of the national income.