Turkey’s external assets had shrunk to $227.3 billion at the end of June, decreasing 10.3 percent since the end of last year, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported, citing central bank data.
The country’s liabilities against non-residents also posted a 4.7 percent decline to $568.9 billion in the same period.
The net international investment position (NIIP) — the difference between external assets and liabilities — was minus $341.5 billion as of this June, improving from $343.5 billion at the end of last year.
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 nation’s government, the private sector and its citizens.
Reserve assets, a sub-item under assets, were recorded at $86.3 billion, falling 18.3 percent during the same period.
Other investments, another sub-item under assets, decreased 7.7 percent to $87.7 billion in June.
On the liabilities side, direct investment — equity capital plus other capital — as of the end of June was $162.6 billion, climbing 1.6 percent compared to the end of last year “with the contribution of the changes in the market value and foreign exchange rates.”
In 2019, the average US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was around 5.68, as one dollar was exchanged for 6.81 Turkish lira on average in June.
June figures showed that FX deposits of non-residents held within resident banks stood at $31.1 billion, a decline of 10.6 percent compared to the end of 2019.
“And Turkish lira deposits increased by 15.3%, recording $15.7 billion,” the bank said.
The Central Bank said total external loan stock of the banks amounted to $63.1 billion — down 6 percent — and total external loan stock of the other sectors was $93.3 billion, down 3.6 percent in the same period.