$15.5 billion drop
in total bank deposits

$11.5 billion decline

in last three months of 2019

Deposits in banks stood at the equivalent of $174 billion at the end of 2019, a drop of $15.5 billion or eight percent from the previous year.

The decline in deposits recorded in just the last three months of the year reached $11.5 billion.

Deposits in foreign currencies decreased by $2.3 billion.

Most of the decline is attributed to customer lira deposits mainly due to conversions into foreign currencies. The conversion transactions were carried out either directly in the banks or by withdrawing the deposited funds and performing the exchange operation outside the banking system.

Banking loans reached $49.8 billion, dropping by $9.6 billion. Some of the loans were repaid by using existing deposits which contributed to a decline in both deposits and the loan portfolios. Lending declined mostly in dollars, constituting 72 percent of the overall drop in loans. Non-performing loans almost doubled to eight percent.