Turkish banking sector loans see sharp rise in first quarter due to new regulations: Association

BURSA

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Loans by the Turkish banking sector were seen rising to some 175 billion Turkish Liras ($48.8 billion) in the first quarter from 120 billion liras in the same period a year earlier, a banking association chairman said, as reported by Reuters on March 27. 

Hüseyin Aydın, the head of the Turkish Banks Association (TBB), said the rise was thanks to a set of measures taken by the government to boost lending, such as tax reductions for white goods and mortgages and cheaper loan offerings to mainly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 

After the rise, the share of loans in total assets will have risen to 68 percent by the end of the first quarter from 63 percent at the end of 2016, Aydın told reporters on the sidelines of an economic summit at Uludağ, in the northwestern province of Bursa. 

The rate was around 20 percent at the beginning of the 2000s, Aydın said. 

“We have seen a serious rise in loans on volume basis. The loan volume was 120 billion liras in the first quarter of last year. Ahead of one week to the end of the first quarter of this year, the volume has already hit 150 billion liras. We will likely close this quarter with 175 billion liras. This is a huge increase,” he said. 

He noted that there are two positive sides in this trend. “First of all, it seems that the real sector’s loan demand does not slow down. And secondly, banks also continue to have appetite to offer loans,” he added.