On one side are the poor, on the other are the well-off

Melisa AY

The economic crisis has exacerbated income and wealth inequality. While citizens' personal loan debt has steadily increased, banks have profited. While desperately poor households struggle to afford food, luxury vehicle sales have skyrocketed. As defaults and non-performing loans have mounted, banks' coffers have been overflowing.

The debt crisis has made repayments nearly impossible. According to data from the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA), the total volume of bank loans rose to 20 trillion lira last week. Individual credit card debts, which are currently being monitored for non-payment, reached 99.8 billion lira. While citizens are mired in debt due to loans and credit cards, dollar billionaires are lined up.

The number of people in Turkey whose wealth in dollar terms is rising is on the rise. According to Forbes' current data, there are 30 people in Turkey with a fortune exceeding $1 billion. Murat Ülker tops the list with a fortune of $5.3 billion. The 30-person billionaire list, including brothers Selçuk and Haluk Bayraktar, includes financiers from the technology, energy, and industrial sectors. Meanwhile, extreme poverty threatens millions of children. According to data from the Ministry of Family and Social Services, the number of extremely poor households reached 3.6 million in 2024. Last year, the number of children whose most basic needs were unmet was announced as 272,348.

Citizens trapped under the rubble of the economic crisis were forced to rely on debt for sustenance, and banks thrived on the crisis. Interest rates and rising debt multiplied banks' assets.

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Banks Explode Profits

The 10 banks with the largest assets in the country's banking sector generated a profit of 305 billion lira in the first half of the year. According to information compiled by Anadolu Agency (AA) from banks' financial statements, the banks virtually doubled their size in the first half of the year. Ziraat Bank, VakıfBank, Türkiye İş Bankası, Halkbank, Garanti BBVA, Akbank, Yapı Kredi, QNB Bank, Denizbank, and Kuveyt Türk were listed as the banks with the largest assets in the country.

As of the first half of the year, the assets of the 10 banks increased by 40 percent compared to the first half of the previous year. The total assets, which represent all assets that can be converted into cash at any maturity, such as cash, debt receivables, and real estate, totaled 32.5 trillion lira for the 10 banks.

Ziraat Bank ranked first in the sector with a volume of 6.9 trillion lira in the first quarter of the year, while VakıfBank was the bank with the second highest assets with 4.6 trillion lira.

Türkiye İş Bankası ranked third in terms of size, with 3.975 trillion lira in assets, while Halkbank ranked fourth with 3.650 trillion lira in assets. Garanti BBVA followed with 3.2 trillion lira. Thus, five banks exceeded 3 trillion lira in assets. Akbank, Yapı Kredi, QNB Bank, DenizBank, and Kuveyt Türk followed in the ranking.

Ziraat grew with interest

Ziraat Bank saw the largest increase in both its size and profits in the first six months of the year. During this period, the bank increased its assets by 52.1 percent and generated a profit of 64 billion lira. Ziraat Bank's profits doubled during this period, increasing by 108 percent.

While citizens struggle to repay loans due to high interest rates, Ziraat Bank's interest income has also increased. Ziraat Bank's interest income from January to June reached 652 billion 674 million 818 thousand lira. This amount was 394.8 billion lira in the same period last year. Of the 652.67 billion lira the bank earned from interest, 414 billion 510 million 939 thousand lira came from interest on loans. 63.5 percent of interest income came from loan interest.

While Ziraat Bank's interest expenses were announced as 528.3 billion lira in this period, the bank's net interest income was 124 billion 330 million 161 thousand lira.

The 10 banks, led by Ziraat Bank, generated a total net profit of 304 billion 998.1 million lira in the first half of 2025. Total profits increased by 32 percent compared to the previous year.

Loans granted increased

While both citizens and businesses were forced to take out loans, the total amount of credit distributed by 10 banks to the public and companies also increased. Bank loans reached 17.1 trillion lira in the first half of the year, with Ziraat Bank providing the most loans at 3.6 trillion lira. Ziraat Bank's loan volume in the first six months increased by 52.6 percent compared to the same period last year. This bank was followed by VakıfBank with 2.5 trillion lira, Türkiye İş Bankası with 2 trillion lira, Garanti BBVA with 1.9 trillion lira, and Halkbank with 1.7 trillion lira.

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2 MILLION NEW ENFORCEMENT FILES IN ONE YEAR

Enforcement and bankruptcy filings for citizens whose debts to banks are constantly increasing and who are struggling to pay due to high interest rates and eroding purchasing power have increased dramatically. According to the Ministry of Justice's UYAP Statistics, the number of enforcement and bankruptcy files received by enforcement offices as of August 22nd reached 26,975. Since the first day of 2022, a full 6,485,291 files have been received by the offices. According to UYAP data, the number of pending files in enforcement offices on August 22nd of last year was 22,624,021. As of August 22nd of this year, this number rose to 24,441,531. The number of files in enforcement offices increased by approximately 1,817,510 in one year.

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16,500 companies have closed their shutters in seven months.

The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) has released statistics on companies established and closed for July. According to TOBB statistics, the number of companies established in July increased by 33.5 percent compared to June, from 7,330 to 9,788. The number of companies closed during the same period increased by 13.1 percent, reaching 2,905. In June, 2,569 companies closed. The number of companies established in July increased by 0.8 percent compared to the same month last year, and the number of companies closed by 0.6 percent.

Accordingly, the number of companies established in July increased by 33.5 percent, sole proprietorships by 46.5 percent, and cooperatives by 17 percent compared to the previous month. During the same period, the number of companies closed increased by 13.1 percent, cooperatives by 37.4 percent, and sole proprietorships by 11.7 percent.

Compared to the same month last year, the number of sole proprietorships established in July increased by 29.9 percent and the number of companies by 0.8 percent, while the number of cooperatives decreased by 40.8 percent. During this period, the number of companies closed increased by 0.6 percent and the number of cooperatives by 14 percent, while the number of sole proprietorships decreased by 8.3 percent.

The number of companies established in the country between January and July of this year decreased by 0.6 percent compared to the same period last year, falling to 62,014. The number of companies closed during the same period increased by 11.8 percent, reaching 16,582.

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LUXURY CAR SALES CONTINUE TO RISE

The crisis hit low-income earners, not luxury vehicles. A continuous increase was recorded in luxury spending. Luxury vehicles dominated retail vehicle sales. Sales of luxury cars encompassing the D, E, and F segments increased in the first seven months of the year. According to July data from the Automotive Distributors and Mobility Association (ODMD), luxury vehicle sales increased in the January-July period. Sales of D segment vehicles increased by 63.2 percent in the first seven months, E segment vehicles by 30 percent, and F segment vehicles by 54.6 percent. 105,960 luxury segment vehicles were sold in the first seven months. Despite advantageous tax rates, sales of affordable A, B, and C segment vehicles decreased. Retail sales of A segment vehicles decreased by 14.1 percent and B segment vehicles by 12.8 percent in the first seven months, while C segment vehicle sales increased by 6.5 percent in the first seven months.