Türkiye’s banking sector posted a net profit of TL 250.3 billion ($9.69 billion) in the first six months of 2023, the country’s banking watchdog said on Monday.

The sector’s net profit was up 47.9% compared with TL 169.15 billion ($585 million) in the same period last year, according to data from the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK).

Total assets of the sector rose 63% year-over-year to TL 19.1 trillion ($739.55 billion) as of the end of June, the report showed.

Loans, the biggest sub-category of assets, were TL 10.09 trillion ($387.55 billion), up 60.09% compared with last year.

On the liabilities side, deposits held at lenders in Türkiye – the largest liabilities item – totaled nearly TL 11.65 trillion ($451.05 billion), up some 71.5% year-over-year.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 26.98 at the end of June 2023 and 16.7 at the end of June 2022, according to Turkish central bank data.

A total of 55 state, private and foreign lenders – including deposit, participation (Islamic), and development and investment banks – conducted banking activities in Türkiye as of January.

Pointing to lenders’ minimum capital requirements, the banking sector’s regulatory capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio – the higher, the better – was 17.96% by the end of June versus 18.05% by the end of June 2022.

The ratio of non-performing loans to total cash loans – the lower, the better – was 1.64% in June versus 2.49% a year ago.

The sector had over 207,300 employees, serving through 11,148 branches both in Türkiye and overseas.