External assets up 5.8 pct, exceed $225B in December 2017

Turkey's external assets rose by 5.8 percent as of December last year to stand at $227.9 billion compared with the end of 2016, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) announced yesterday.

As of the end of last year, the country's liabilities against non-residents rose by 17.1 percent to reach $681.2 billion, the bank said.

The net international investment position (NIIP) -- the gap between Turkey's assets abroad and liabilities -- amounted to minus $453.3 billion in December last year while it was minus $366.2 billion at the end of the previous year. Showing at a point in time, the NIIP -- may either be 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, the private sector and its citizens.

Reserve assets, a sub-item under assets, were $107.7 billion at the end of December -- up 1.3 percent from the end of 2016 -- while other investments were recorded at $77 billion, increasing 12.6 percent over the same period.

CBRT data also showed that currency and bank deposits, one of the sub-items of other investments, rose by 17.3 percent to $34.9 billion compared with the end of 2016.

On the liabilities side, direct investment -- equity capital plus other capital -- as of the end of 2017 recorded $180.3 billion, marking a 26.2 percent increase compared with the end of 2016 "with the contribution of the changes in the market value and foreign exchange rates," the bank said.

The total external loan stock of the banks amounted to $92.5 billion as of December 2017, up 5.6 percent from the figure at the end of the previous year.