Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The Respite Credits Project has begun. SMEs can draw credit from the Ziraat Bank and Denizbank branches with a maturity of 1 year and an annual interest rate of 9.90% - 0.83%, via membership through the chamber/exchange they are registered to.

The project, brought to life via the initiative and financial contributions of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) and its chambers and exchanges, with surety provided by the Credit Guarantee Fund in cooperation with Denizabank and Ziraat Bank, has been pointed out by President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as ‘innovation in finance’.

TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that SMEs will have a respite from the pressure of high interest rates. Hisarcıklıoğlu thanked President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who supported the project, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and project partners Denizbank, Ziraat Bank and the Credit Guarantee Fund.

- 5 billion TRY loan volume

Providing information about the project, the TOBB President stated that Chambers and Commodity Exchanges in 81 provinces affiliated with TOBB have undertaken a great initiative in this project, “Our project, which started with 1 billion TRY with their support, has reached 5 billion TRY load volume. We, the real sector and the finance sector cooperated together and developed a mechanism that will give SMEs respite. The private sector has contributed to the policy reduction in loan interest rates initiated by the President and Prime Minister.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu reported that SMEs can use loans with interest rates between 15% and 18%, “We wanted to provide SMEs access loans with interest at less than 10%. We started working. First, TOBB and our 365 chambers and commodity exchanges put forth our contribution to the cause. We combined all of our resources. Then the Treasury and Credit Guarantee Fund came into play. SMEs were unable to find surety; banks were hesitant to give out loans of risk; loan applications were refused. As per the Prime Minister’s instruction, the Treasury-backed KGF surety went into effect. Our SMEs were granted 85% surety on loans of this project. The banks joined the endeavor. They provided resources to the project despite the risks involved. That is how we were able to reach a loan volume of 5 billion TRY for the Respite Credit.

Stating that they will have addressed the pleas 70,000-80,000 SMEs within two to three months, Hisarcıklıoğlu urged trust in the power and dynamism of the Turkish private sector.