Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Attending the meeting were Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, Customs and Trade Minister Bülent Tüfenkci, Prime Ministry Undersecretary Fuat Oktay, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Ziraat Bank General Manager Hüseyin Aydın, Denizbank General Manager Hakan Ateş and KGF Chairman Faik Yavuz.

TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they, TOBB, Ziraat Bank, Denizbank and KGF, have come together for a revolutionary endeavor, saying, “We’ve prepared a project together with the real sector and the financial sector and that will provide respite to SMEs. By doing this we, the private sector, have contributed to the policy initiated by the President and Prime Minister to lower credit interest rates.”

Stating that they’ve been talking about this project with Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and Customs and Trade Minister Bülent Tüfenkci two months ago, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “We said, ‘SMEs are using loans with interest rates between 15% and 18%, they can have no respite with these levels of interest rates. We must enable the SMEs to utilize interest rates below 10%.’ We started work immediately.

First, TOBB, with our 365 chambers and commodity exchanges, combined all of our resources. Then our Treasury and Credit Guarantee Fund came into operation. The SMEs could not find any collateral and the banks could not give them credit because they saw risks. With the instructions of the Prime Minister, the Treasury-backed KGF bail went into effect. Our SMEs were granted 85% bail on loans under this project.

Finally, our banks have entered the arena. They have also provided resources for the project by taking risk. I would like to thank the General Manager of Ziraat Bank Hüseyin Aydın and Denizbank General Manager Hakan Ateş for their leadership.

From this endeavor emerged 5 billion TRY for SMEs as Respite Credit. With Respite Credit we will provide SMEs with credit loans with interest rates of 9.90% per annum and 0.83% monthly with a maturity of 1 year. We are aiming to serve about 80 thousand SMEs within 3 months. We will not allow SMEs to be crushed under interest, we will be the respite SMEs need.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu said that with this project, the real sector and the finance sector will work together to show how well they can do business for Turkey.

Stating that the project has been closely followed by Prime Minister Yıldırım since its first day the TOBB President said, “Today he has taken this signature ceremony under his patronage to boost morale. We are very happy to have supported the policy of reducing the interest rates of loans initiated by our President and Prime Minister as the Turkish private sector.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu said that this project is a hope for the whole business community in these anxious days for the market, “Because we know very well that those who invest in Turkey have always won. Turkey has always reached its target. We will do what we know best again. We will work harder; we will produce more; we will prosper; our employees will prosper; Turkey will prosper. As long as the unity you see here today lasts, we will have many successes.”

- Prime Minister Yıldırım

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım reported that he will convene the Economic Coordination Board today. After making the final case assessments and the decisions which need to be taken would be shared with the public. Yıldırım explained that they have allocated about 80 billion TRY in resources for public investments, pointing out that necessary measures will be taken. Yıldırım said, “Actually we have another interesting endeavor in the works which we will announce in the coming days. It is an initiative that will relieve our tradesmen, our employers and our commercial life considerably.”

Customs and Trade Minister Bülent Tüfenkci pointed out that despite economic rumors, the economy continues to maintain its robust stance and said, “With the stability we’ve achieved, we will produce more and sell more together. With a focus on exports, we will achieve growth via the real sector.”

Denizbank General Manager Hakan Ateş and Ziraat Bank General Manager Hüseyin Aydin expressed pride in being a part of this initiative, extending their well wishes for all the country and nation to benefit from it.

The protocol for the Respite Credit for SMEs were signed by TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu, KGF Chairman Faik Yavuz, Ziraat Bank General Manager Aydın and General Manager of Denizbank. With Prime Minister Yıldırım signing the protocol as witness.