Turkey's banking sector posted a net profit of TL 24.8 billion in the first half of this year, the country's banking watchdog said yesterday.

Total assets of the sector amounted to TL 4.2 trillion as of the end of June, rising 9.5% year-on-year, a report from the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) showed.

The sector's loans climbed nearly 8% to reach TL 2.5 trillion during the same period.

On the liabilities side, deposits held at lenders in Turkey totaled TL 2.27 trillion between January and June, up 20% on a yearly basis.

The U.S. dollar-Turkish lira exchange rate was around 5.74 at the end of June.

The banking sector's regulatory capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio, the higher the better, stood at 17.73% last month, compared to 16.26% in the same month last year.

The report showed that the ratio of nonperforming loans to total cash loans – the lower the better as it measures the health of loans – was 4.36% in June 2019, versus 3% in June 2018.

As of the end of June, 51 state, private and foreign lenders – including deposit banks, participation banks, and development and investment banks – had conducted banking activities in the country.