By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA (AA) - Turkish banking sector's net profit totaled some 6.48 billion Turkish liras ($1.22 billion) in January-February this year, the country's banking regulator said Friday.
According to the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, total assets of the sector surged 19.4 percent year-on-year to reach 3.93 trillion liras ($743 billion).
Amounting to some 2.42 trillion liras ($457 billion), loans -- the biggest sub-category of assets -- rose by 12.9 percent on a yearly basis.
On the liabilities side, deposits held at lenders in Turkey were 2.09 trillion Turkish liras ($396 billion) in the two-month period, marking an annual hike of 20.1 percent.
The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira (USD/TRY) exchange rate was around 5.30 at the end of February this year, versus 3.79 at the end of the same month in 2018.