Turkey's outstanding short-term foreign loans in the private sector decreased in March, the Central Bank Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) announced Thursday.

Excluding trade credits, the private sector's short-term external loans totaled $12.1 billion, going down $3.3 billion from the end of 2018.

The bank said 70.8 percent of all short-term loans were owed by financial institutions.

Official figures also revealed that the private sector's long-term external loans amounted to some $210.2 billion as of March, marking a $127 million rise compared to the end of 2018.

The bank said the liabilities of the financial institutions constituted 48.9 percent of the long-term foreign loans. "Regarding the currency composition, of the total long-term loans in the amount of $210.2 billion, 60.9 percent consists of U.S. dollar, 33.7 percent consists of euro, 4.1 percent consists of the Turkish lira and 1.3 percent consists of other currencies. "Of the total short-term loans in the amount of $12.1 billion, 43.2 percent consists of U.S. dollar, 35.5 percent consists of euro, 20.9 percent consists of the Turkish lira and 0.4 percent consists of other currencies," the bank said. By the end of March, principal repayments for the private sector's total outstanding foreign loans were $60.4 billion for the next 12 months.