23 March 2010 / TODAY’S ZAMAN, ANKARA
The amount of cash loans extended by banks in Turkey in 2009 increased by 2.8 percent over the preceding year, central bank data have revealed.
The total amount of loans in cash reached TL 428.3 billion in 2009; this number was TL 416.7 billion in 2008. Total cash loans extended by public banks Vakıf, Ziraat and Halkbank in 2009 amounted to TL 92.95 billion in 2009, a 21.9 percent growth over a year before, while private banks extended TL 335.3 billion in cash loans, representing a 1.5 percent decline over 2008 figures. İstanbul, with 48.4 percent, had the lion’s share in cash loans in 2009 with customers from İstanbul receiving TL 207.4 billion in cash loans extended by banks in 2009. Ankara had the second largest share in cash loans with TL 45.46 billion in 2009, while İzmir followed the capital with TL 22.17 billion in cash loans in the same period. The data have shown that İstanbul experienced a slight decrease in the amount of cash loans received in 2009 over 2008 while the other two in the top three enjoyed increases.
