Private sector loans from abroad on the rise

THE TURKISH private sector’s outstanding long-term loans received from abroad rose to $225.7 billion in January 2018, while short-term loans stood at $18.9 billion, according to an official report yesterday. The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) announced that the private sector’s pending long-term loans from abroad rose $5 billion whereas short-term loans - excluding trade credits - increased by $506 million compared to the end of 2017.

By definition, short-term loans have an original maturity of one year or less while long-term loans have an original maturity of more than one year.

“As for the sectoral breakdown by the end of January, of the total long-term loans in the amount of $225.7 billion, 51.2 percent consist of liabilities of the financial institutions, whereas 48.8 percent consist of the liabilities of the nonfinancial institutions,” the CBRT said.

“In the same period, of the total shortterm loans in the amount of $18.9 billion, 75.6 percent consist of liabilities of the financial institutions, whereas 24.4 percent consist of liabilities of the nonfinancial institutions,” the bank added.

Regarding the currency composition, 58 percent of the total long-term loans were U.S. dollar loans, 35.5 percent are in euros, 4.8 percent were in the Turkish lira and 1.7 percent from other currencies, as noted in the report: “And of the total shortterm loans in the amount of $18.9 billion, 46.6 percent consist of U.S. dollars, 27.7 percent consist of euros and 25.7 percent consist of Turkish lira.

“The private sector’s total outstanding loans received from abroad based on a remaining maturity basis point out to principal repayments in the amount of $71.6 billion for the next 12 months by the end of January.” The central bank periodically releases the data for the private sector’s long and short-term loans received from abroad by gathering details from credit-based forms submitted by resident financial institutions and companies.

The bank’s next report is slated to be issued on Monday, April 16.