By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's banking sector net profit totaled 3.2 billion Turkish liras ($615 million) in January, the country's banking watchdog announced on Friday.
On a yearly basis, total assets of the sector climbed 18.8 percent, amounting to 3.86 trillion liras ($746 billion).
Loans, the biggest sub-category of assets, surged 12.6 percent year-on-year to reach 2.37 trillion liras ($459 billion).
As the largest liabilities item deposits held at lenders in Turkey were 2.04 trillion Turkish liras ($396 billion), marking an annual hike of 19.4 percent.
The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira (USD/TRY) exchange rate was around 5.29 as of Jan. 31 this year, versus 3.79 at the end of same month in 2018.