Interest income by Turkish banks rises to $21.2B

By Murat Birinci
ISTANBUL (AA) – The total interest income of Turkey’s banking sector reached 75 billion Turkish liras ($21.2 billion) in the first quarter of 2017, according to data released by the Banking Regulatory and Supervision Agency (BDDK) on Friday.
The income rose 20.3 percent compared to 61.8 billion liras ($17.4 billion) in the same period last year, the data showed.
The interest income of banks from loans in the first quarter of 2017 was 59.7 billion liras ($16.9 billion).
The total interest expenses for banks, paid to deposit holders, increased during the same period to 37.9 billion liras ($10.7 billion) from 33.9 billion liras ($9.5 billion) last year, up 11.7 percent.
Meanwhile, the net profit of Turkish banks climbed 59.2 percent in the first quarter, reaching 17.5 billion liras ($4.9 billion), up from 10.9 billion liras ($3.1 billion) in the same period last year.