Turkey’s credit stock reaches $441 bln in first quarter

ISTANBUL

The cash loans in Turkey increased 14 percent in the first quarter hitting as high as 3.02 trillion Turkish Liras ($441 billion), according to the Banks Association of Turkey (TBB) on May 18.

Of the total cash loans, some cash credits of 2,295 billion liras ($425.9 billion) were granted by banks, whereas the rest was allocated by leasing, factoring and financing companies, according to the March 2020 report of TBB Risk Center.

The amount of loans to be liquidated was 182 billion liras (nearly $26.7 billion) at the end of March. The ratio of loans to be liquidated to the total loans increased 1.3 percent annually to 5.7 percent in March.

While the volume of commercial loans rose 12 percent to 2.36 trillion liras ($344.7 billion), firms in the manufacturing sector took the lion’s share, with 28 percent of it. Retail, construction and energy sectors followed.

The ratio of loans to be liquidated was the highest in the construction (11.1 percent) and tourism (9.1 percent) sectors.

Personal loans soared 21 percent to 659 billion liras ($95.9 billion) in the same period. Some 45 percent of them were consumer credits, followed by housing loans (33 percent), credit cards (18 percent) and vehicle loans (4 percent).

The average personal credit balance was 21,000 liras ($3,057). Some 114,000 people were granted consumer loans for the first time in March, whereas nearly 92,000 people obtained a credit card and 32,000 people were allocated housing loans.

Turkish state lenders - Ziraat, VakıfBank and Halkbank - announced packages to support economic activities in Turkey, following the recommendations of the TBB in March to tackle the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Three banks said in separate statements that they would postpone credit repayments and provide cheap loans with a grace period of up to 12 months to their customers.