Turkish firms and their credit demands to grow: Banker

By Yunus Turk

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish companies and their credit demands are expected to accelerate starting from the third quarter of 2019, the head of Turkish participation bank, Albaraka, said on Tuesday.

Although assets of the banks rose strongly, similar growth was not witnessed in credit demands this year, Meliksah Utku told Anadolu Agency.

"Albaraka increased its assets by 20.2% and achieved 22.7% parallel growth in the banking sector in the first quarter of this year, compared to the same period of the previous year," Utku underlined.

He forecast that unemployment rate in the country will decrease as of 2020 due to recovery in the economy.

"We expect a current surplus in June, and Turkey can close 2019 with around $5 billion current surpluses," he said.

He said that the inflation rate decreased in June and will decrease further in the September-October period.

"In line with the decline in inflation, we expect the policy rate to go down," Utku added.

Touching on the participation banking sector in Turkey, he stated that its share in the global Islamic finance sector reached 5.7% as of the second quarter of 2019 from 4.9% in 2017.

Utku pointed out that participation banking aims to increase its share to 15% in the global sector by 2025.

*Writing by Gokhan Ergocun