Page 47 - TURKRptJun19

In April, Eximbank obtained a $630mn syndicated loan in two tranches with maturities of one year and two years. Part of the loan, namely $184mn worth, was denominated in USD while the remaining €398mn was denominated in EUR. The two-year tranche is worth $84mn. The costs on the one-year tranche stood at Libor+2.75% and Euribor+2.65%, lower by 20bp compared to a syndicated loan signed last October.
Also in April, Ziraat Bank’s Islamic banking unit Ziraat Katilim obtained a $250mn, 367-day syndicated loan.
The month also saw state-controlled Vakifbank obtain a 367-day $1.1bn syndicated loan. A $279.5mn tranche had a cost of Libor+2.50% and a €723.5mn tranche had a cost of Euribor+2.40%.
In February, unnamed sources told Bloomberg that Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund had hired Citigroup and Industrial Commercial Bank of China to act as coordinators in a €1bn syndicated loan deal.
The Turkish private sector’s loan debt repayment obligations on a remaining maturity basis for the next one-year period stood at $60.4bn at the end of March, down 3% m/m from end-February’s $62bn, central bank data showed on May 16. The figure was as high as $70.5bn at the end of July 2018, prior to Turkey’s currency crisis that reached its peak in August. The total has gradually declined since then. Turkish private lenders have obligations to repay $35.7bn in foreign loans between April 2019 and April 2020, while non-bank financial companies are on the hook for $6.1bn and non- financial private corps are scheduled to repay $18.6bn. Meanwhile, Turkey’s outstanding private sector long-term foreign loans edged up by 0.1% m/m to $210.2bn as of end-Q1 from $210.1bn at end-2018. The figure stood at $221.1bn at end-2017. Turkish private banks’ outstanding long-term foreign loans rose by 0.5% q/q to $85.4bn at end-March from $84.9bn at end- December. The figure stood at $95.8bn at end-2017. Turkish private energy corporations’ outstanding long-term foreign loans contracted by 1% q/q to $16.8bn at end-Q1 from $16.9bn at end-2018. The figure stood at $18.8bn at end-2017. Private construction and real estate firms’ outstanding long-term foreign loans moved up by 0.3% q/q to $26.77bn at end-Q1 from $26.68bn at end-2018. The figure stood at $21.7bn at end-2017. Private transportation companies’ outstanding long-term foreign loans increased by 1% q/q to $17.6bn at end-March from $17.4bn at end-December. The figure stood at $16.4bn at end-2017.
Bigger picture. Meanwhile, the Turkish central bank remains under scrutiny for its use of currency swaps to flatter its level of held FX reserves and for selling USD via public lenders to curb the depreciation in the Turkish lira, but some analysts say the focus should be on the bigger picture. “The focus on the use of swaps risks missing the bigger picture. Regardless of which measure of FX reserves is used, Turkey’s external position is among the worst in
47 TURKEY Country Report June 2019 www.intellinews.com