Turkey's foreign investments grew in the first nine months of 2016 and outpaced its liability growth according to data released by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) on Thursday.

The external assets of the country grew 5.3 percent from January to September this year, reaching $221.3 billion, while liabilities increased 4.1 percent to reach $614.4 billion over the same period.

The net international investment position, or NIIP, which indicates the difference between Turkey's assets abroad and liabilities, and is the total of external assets minus the stock of external liabilities, was minus $386.6 billion in September, up 1.7 percent compared to minus $380 billion in December 2015.

The NIIP figures showed that one sub-item, reserve assets, had reached $117.8 billion at the end of September, showing an increase of 6.6 percent compared to December last year, while other investments were at $64.6 billion, up 2.5 percent.

These investments include currency and deposits from banks and were recorded at $26.4 billion, indicating an increase of 13.8 percent. Direct investment at the end of September slightly decreased by 0.5 percent to $147.2 billion "due to changes in the market value and foreign exchange rates," the CBRT said. According to the report, the total external loan stock of the banks amounted to $89.8 billion as of September, indicating a decrease of 3.2 percent compared to the end of 2015, while the other business sectors' total external loan stock reached $108.4 billion -- an increase of 9.9 percent. As Turkey's national income grew close to $721 billion in 2015, the country's debts represented 34 percent of the national income.