Turkey's 4-Month Portfolio Investments Fell By $16.4 Billion Dollars

- Portfolio investments owned by non-residents fell by 16.4 billion dollars at the end of April, against at the end of last year, according to the International Investment Position (IIP) data released by the Central Bank of Turkey on Wednesday.

Non-residents’ equity holdings recorded 53.7 billion dollars reflecting a decrease of 13.2 percent compared to the end of 2014. Non-residents’ holdings of government domestic debt securities (GDDS), a sub-item under debt securities stock, fell by 20.1 percent to 41.7 billion dollars with over the same period.

Eurobond stock of the Treasury, excluding the residents’ holdings, rose by 1.0 percent to 39.1 billion dollars in the same period.

As regards to sub-items under assets, at the end of April 2015, reserve assets fell by 4.4 billion dollars to 122.9 billion dollars, while other investment rose by 5.5 billion dollars to 67.6 billion dollars.

Currency and deposits of banks, one of the sub-items of other investment, increased by 23.0 percent to 27.2 billion dollars compared to the end of 2014.

Direct investment, equity capital and other capital, fell by 9.3 percent to 157.9 billion dollars at the end of April, in comparison to the end of the previous year due to the changes in the market value and foreign exchange rates.

FX deposits of non-residents held within the resident banks recorded 39.3 billion dollars at the end of April 2015, reflecting an increase of 14.9 percent to the end of 2014 while TL deposits decreased by 5.1 percent to 12.7 billion dollars.

Total external loan stock of the banks recorded 90.4 billion dollars at the end of April 2015 decreasing by 4.4 percent compared to the end of 2014 and total external loan stock of the other sectors decreased by 3.0 percent to 90.8 billion dollars during the same period.

According to the IIP, external assets rose by 1.0 percent to 233.1 billion dollars at the end of April, compared to the end of 2014, while liabilities against non-residents fell by 6.0 percent to 627.2 billion dollars, over the same period.

The net IIP gap, defined as the difference between Turkey’s external assets and liabilities, fell to posted 394.1 billion dollars at the end of April 2015, against 436.4 billion dollars at the end of 2014.