Moody's upgrades ratings of 17 Turkish banks

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Moody's said it upgraded the local and foreign-currency long-term deposit, issuer and senior unsecured ratings of 17 Turkish banks, while their outlooks remain positive.

The move is a result of the improvement of their operating environment, and a track record of resilient performance by the Turkish banks, the rating agency said late Tuesday in a statement.

"The revised Macro Profile score for Turkiye is underpinned by the Turkish government's improvements in governance, more specifically the decisive and increasingly well-established return to orthodox monetary policy," it said. "In turn, these factors have eased the pressure on the banks' financial performance and improved the banking sector's access to foreign funding."

The rating agency said the government's macroeconomic policy change over the last year is yielding positive results in terms of inflation, domestic confidence in the Turkish Lira, and foreign capital inflows, which is supporting the funding profile of the banking system.

Moody's announced Friday it upgraded Türkiye's ratings to B1 from B3, expecting inflationary pressures to ease significantly in coming months and into 2025.