MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATIONS DOWN BY 12.2% IN FEBRUARY

66,567 road motor vehicles were registered in Turkey in February, down 12.2% on an annual basis, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). The number of withdrawn road motor vehicles decreased by 7.7% to 3,255 in this period. Cars accounted for 51.7% of all vehicles registered last month, followed by motorcycles at 21.7% and small trucks at 15.7%. As of the end of February, the number of road motor vehicles registered in the country totaled some 25.38 million. Cars represented 54.3%, small trucks 16.3%, motor

cycles 14.9%, tractors 8.0%, trucks 3.5%, minibuses 1.9%, buses 0.8% and special purpose vehicles 0.3% of the total. 571,505 road motor vehicles were handed last month, with cars comprising 65.1%.

CENTRAL GOVERNMENT’S GROSS DEBT STOCK AT TRY 2.95TR

The central government’s gross debt stock totaled TRY 2.95tr (about USD 209bn) as of the end of February, according to the Ministry of Treasury and Finance. The figure soared 58.5% from the same period last year. It includes the outstanding debt of public sector institutions, the Central Bank, private companies, and households. Some 33.4% of the debt stock is denominated in TRY, while the rest is in foreign currency. While TRY 1.4tr of the debt was domestic, some TRY 1.55tr was external. As of February 28, the stock of Treasury receivables totaled TRY 21bn.