Central government gross debt stock hits $223B

The gross debt stock of Turkey's central government stood at 1.46 trillion Turkish liras (around $223 billion) at the end of March, according to official figures released on April 20. 

The figure was 25.8% higher than the same month last year, the Treasury and Finance Ministry announced.

The gross debt stock includes the outstanding debt of public sector institutions, the Central Bank, private companies, and households.

More than half of the debt stock, 777.4 billion Turkish liras ($119 billion), is denominated in foreign currency, the ministry said.

Nearly 808.77 billion Turkish liras ($123.8 billion) of the debt was domestic and 653.1 billion liras ($100 billion) were external, it added.

The stock of Treasury receivables stood at 18 billion Turkish liras (nearly $2.75 billion) as of March 31.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira rate was 6.53 at the end of last month.

Economy,