250,000 Turkish tradesmen applied for loans originally designated for 15,000: PM

ANKARA

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More than 250,000 tradesmen have applied for a 50,000-Turkish Lira loan package from the Industry Ministry although they were originally designated for 15,000 tradesmen, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said in a speech in Ankara on Jan. 4.  

“The Industry Ministry has offered a one-year refundable loan package to tradesmen, which is up to 50,000 liras with a three-year zero interest opportunity. It was initially forecasted that 15,000 tradesmen would apply for these loans, but instead, 250,000 tradesmen applied for it. We will try to make it possible for all eligible tradesmen to use these loans,” he said.  

Yıldırım said the package would be online in 2017 as well. 

He also said the loans given to tradesmen and craftsmen were restructured and over 24,000 tradespeople benefited from this opportunity for their 253 million liras of debts in total. 

Yıldırım stressed that the government had also offered supports to young entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs.

“We have, so far, offered 1.5 billion liras of loans with zero interest rate to 48,355 people until now,” he said.