Two public banks cut loan rates

ISTANBUL

Two state-owned banks, Ziraat and Vakıfbank, have announced that they lowered their interest rates on loans.

Ziraat Bank, the country’s largest lender by asset size, said in a statement on Aug. 1 that it had reduced the interest rates on housing loans to a monthly 0.99 percent for loans worth up to 500,000 Turkish Liras (around $90,000) with maturities up to 180 months.

The bank also said it will charge an interest rate between 1.49 percent and 1.59 percent on consumer loans with up to 60 months’ maturity.

According to the statement, the interest rate on corporate loans has been set at between 17 percent and 19 percent.

Ziraat said the new rates took effect as of yesterday.

Meanwhile, another state-owned bank, Vakıfbank,announced it also lowered its interest rates on consumer and housing loans.

The bank said it slashed the interest rates after the country’s Central Bank cut the policy rate (one-week repo auction rate) by 425 basis points from 24 percent to 19.75 percent.

Accordingly, Vakıfbank lowered the monthly interest rate on housing loans worth 500,000 liras with maturities up to 180 months to 0.99 percent from the previous 1.49 percent while cutting the interest rates to be charged on consumer loans to a range between 1.49 percent and 1.59 percent.