Banks extend YTL 321.9 billion in loans in 2007

The FINANCIAL — Turkey's banks extended YTL 321.9 billion in loans last year, 82 percent of which was provided by private banks.

According to Turkish Central Bank data, state-owned Vakıf Bank, Ziraat Bank and Halkbank issued YTL 59.03 billion in loans in 2007, while private banks provided YTL 262.89 billion. In terms of location, İstanbul ranked first with 47.2 percent of the total loaned, YTL 152.9 billion. Of loans issued in İstanbul, YTL 12.36 billion was provided by public banks and YTL 139.7 billion by private banks. The second city was Ankara, with YTL 8.53 billion in loans from public banks and YTL 33.56 billion from private banks. İzmir was third with YTL 18.17 billion, of which YTL 4.6 billion was from public banks and YTL 13.6 billion from private banks. Loans in these three cities accounted for 66 percent of the total value of loans issued last year. Hakkari was lowest ranked in terms of loans issued, with just YTL 68.9 million, of which YTL 45.55 million was provided via public banks and YTL 23.4 million by private banks.