Crisis for the people, income for the bank

Havva Gümüşkaya

Large sections of society, whose incomes have not increased enough against the cost of living, turned to loans and credit cards to get by. However, high interest rates and rapidly growing debt left citizens facing an ever heavier interest burden. This picture born of the people’s debt crisis boosted the financial sector’s profits.

According to data from the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK), banks’ interest income reached 3 trillion 855 billion 642 million lira in the first half of the year. This income, which was 2 trillion 562 billion 161 million lira in the same period last year, rose by 50.5 percent in one year. Of banks’ interest income, 66.2 percent came from interest on loans.

Interest income from consumer loans increased from 226 billion 728 million lira to 329 billion 652 million lira. Interest income from citizens’ debt grew by 45.4 percent in just one year.

Interest income from credit card use also showed a similarly dramatic rise. In June 2024, interest income from credit cards stood at 150 billion 657 million lira, but by June this year it had reached 230 billion 601 million lira. As card use rose, interest income from credit cards grew by 53 percent in one year.

In the same period, there was also a sharp increase in interest income from non-performing loans. The repayment crisis that began in the economic bottleneck almost multiplied banks’ income from receivables under follow-up. In June 2024, interest from non-performing loans was 18 billion 361 million lira, but by June this year it had reached 47 billion 939 million lira. In just one year, banks’ interest income from bad loans increased by 161 percent.

Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Halka kriz, bankaya gelir, published in BirGün newspaper on August 25, 2025.