This week, Turkey’s financial watchdog, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, told the nation’s lenders to write off 46 billion liras ($8.1 billion) in bad loans by the end of the year to hasten a recovery in the banking sector.
The move comes more than a year after a currency crisis devalued the Turkish currency 30% against the US dollar, leaving banks with large foreign debts unable to repay obligations that have since strained the nation’s lending market. While analysts say the directive could help revive the Turkish banking sector, the delayed initiative may prove to be "too little, too late" to stimulate the nation’s lukewarm loan market.
