Turkey's total debt was pushed up by about 38 percent in the past three and a half years under the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the Daily News reported on Sunday.

Turkey's total debt, which stood at YTL 251.6 billion (about 169 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of 2002, rose by YTL 95 billion (about 64 billion dollars) to reach YTL 346.5 billion (about 232 billion dollars) by the end of 2006, the report said.

According to data released by the Treasury, Turkey's debt structure was also transformed in the same period as the government concentrated on domestic borrowing.

The amount of domestic debt nearly doubled to YTL 213.3 billion (143 billion dollars) from YTL 106.1 billion (71 billion dollars).

The foreign debt rose only by 500 million dollars, from 88.6 billion dollars to 89.1 billion dollars.

Source: Xinhua