Turkish banking sector’s net profit decreases by 12 percent

Turkey’s Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency’s (BDDK) data shows that the country’s banking sector’s profit in the first quarter of this year decreased by 12 percent to 12.35 billion dollars.

The data provided by BDDK shows that the sector’s loans increased by 15 percent in the first quarter of 2019, compared to the first quarter of the last year and amounted to 2.52 trillion TL; while the deposits increased 24.2 percent to 2.2 trillion TL in the same period.

BDDK reported that the asset size of the banking sector reached 4.12 trillion Lira.

The non-performing loan ratio of the sector rose to 4.04 percent in March from the last March’s 2.90 percent rate.

The capital adequacy ratio which was 17 percent in March last year, recorded 16 percent during the same period this year.

Turkey’s foreign trade gap decreased by 67.4 percent

Turkey’s foreign trade gap fell 67.4 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to last year’s same period, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) revealed in its data.

“In March 2019 foreign trade deficit was 2 billion 137 million [2.137 billion] dollars with a 63.7% decrease compared with March 2018. In March 2019, exports coverageimports was 87.9% while it was 72.6% in March 2018,” Turksat’s Foreign Trade Statistics shows.

“Exports were 15 billion 486 million [15.486 billion] dollars with a 0.4% decrease and imports were 17 billion 622 [17.622 billion] million dollars  with a 17.8% decrease  compared with March 2018,” according to the provisional data, produced with the cooperation of the Turkish Statistical Institute and the Ministry of Trade, in March.

“Turkish exports rose to $42.2 billion, up 2.7% on a yearly basis, while imports slipped to $49 billion, down 20.8%. In March, Turkey’s exports fell 0.4% on a yearly basis to reach $15.5 billion, while imports went down to $17.6 billion, a 17.8% decline,” Daily Sabah reported.

Turkish Central Bank kept its inflation forecasts unchanged

Turkey’s Central Bank announced today that the country’s year-end inflation forecasts at 14.6% this year, 8.2% next year and 5.4% in 2021.

“The inflation rate will fluctuate between 12.1% and 17.2% through the end of this year… We project the inflation rate will stabilize at 5% in the medium term under a tight monetary policy stance and enhanced policy coordination,” the Central Bank Governor, Murat Cetinkaya said during a press conference to release the bank’s quarterly inflation in Istanbul.

“The lira has dropped another 12 percent this year due in part to worries that the central bank would tighten policy too soon to sustainably lower annual price rises, which was 19.71 percent in March, four times higher than the target,” Reuters commented.

The Turkish lira weakened as low as 5.9850 against the dollar during the presentation, but it increased to 5.9670 after the Governor’s meeting.

The Turkish currency lost almost 40 percent of its value against the U.S. Dollar since last August due to the tension between Washington and Ankara over Pastor Andrew Brunson crises and Turkey’s Russian S-400 defense missile order.

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