At the time of Corona ... Turkish banks raised their profits to this number

Contrary to all expectations, the banking sector in Turkey was able to achieve a rise of 26.2% on an annual basis in March, according to what the Banking Regulatory and Supervision Agency reported in its latest statement.

The net profits of Turkish banks amounted to 15.8 billion Turkish liras, equivalent to 2.25 billion US dollars, achieving an increase that exceeded the previous year in which the profits of the banking sector were estimated at 12.5 billion Turkish liras during the same period, i.e. the month of March.

With regard to the assets of the banking sector, according to the statement of the Banking Regulatory and Supervision Agency, it in turn achieved an increase on an annual basis of 17.8% to reach 4.9 trillion Turkish liras, equivalent to the hard currency of 700 billion USD.

With regard to the total loans, which are considered the largest sub-category of banking sector assets, they amounted to 2.9 trillion Turkish liras, achieving an increase of about 15% compared to the previous year.

With regard to liabilities, the total deposits with the lenders, that is, the largest liabilities item in Turkey, amounted to 2.8 trillion TL, an increase of 26.7% on an annual basis.

It should be noted that the exchange rate of the US dollar against the local currency, the Turkish lira, reached 6.3 during March of the current year, compared to 5.8 during the same period last year, that is, March 2019.

Regarding the minimum capital requirements for lenders, the ratio of regulatory capital to risk-weighted assets increased by 17.90% at the end of March of the current year, after the rate of increase was estimated at 16.38% during the same month last year.

As for non-performing loans to total cash loans, which is the least declining, they reached 4.96% during the month of March on an annual basis, compared to 4.04% in 2019.

As of late March, the number of government lenders, both private and foreign, was estimated at 51, in the Turkish banking sector, in addition to the deposit banks, investment and development banks, and participating banks.

Bank loans to small companies under the Corona pandemic

With the continuing impact of the new epidemic Covid-19, most economic institutions were automatically forced to temporarily close or suspend work even after the pandemic passed,

This prompted the Turkish Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Exchanges, backed by private banks and the government credit guarantee fund, to accelerate the launch of a package of loans for small and medium projects in order to reduce the burden on them and assist them in conducting their activities until the crisis that led to the contraction of the economies of even the major countries in the world.

Not only did the Union launch a single aid package, but rather renewed the package a second time, with the aim of expanding loans to include the largest number of small and medium companies in Turkey.

In this regard, the head of the Turkish Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Exchanges, "Rifaat Heşarciklioglu" said that the new package would provide 6 billion Turkish lira equivalent to 859 million US dollars in hard currency, provided in the form of loans to medium and small companies over a period of two months.

The amount of the loan offered for the benefit of each small and medium-sized project ranged between 50 thousand TL, or 7 thousand US dollars, and 100 thousand pounds, which is equivalent to about 14 thousand dollars.

The value of loans whose interest rate is set at 7.5% in the package and free from principal payments and interest this year varies, depending on the type of economic institution and the state in which it is located.