29 November 2018•Update: 29 November 2018
By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA
Turkey's banking sector's net profit totaled nearly 45.9 billion Turkish liras ($8.3 billion) in the January-October period, the country's banking watchdog reported on Thursday.
The banking sector's 10-month net profit climbed 11.5 percent annually, up from 41.2 billion liras ($10.9 billion) over the same period in 2017, according to the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK).
The banking sector's total assets amounted to 3.99 trillion liras ($720.2 billion) as of Oct. 31 this year, surging 25.9 percent on a yearly basis.
As the biggest sub-category of assets, loans rose by 20.4 percent to reach 2.46 trillion liras ($444.5 billion) in the same period.
On the liabilities side, deposits held at lenders in Turkey were 2.06 trillion Turkish liras ($372 billion), showing an annual hike of 22.2 percent.
The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was around 5.50 as of Oct. 31 this year, while the USD/TRY rate was around 3.78 at the end of the same month last year.
