Central Bank increases daily rediscount loan limits

ANKARA/GAZİANTEP

The Central Bank has announced that the daily limit for rediscount credits for export and foreign exchange earning services has been increased from 1.5 billion Turkish Liras to 3 billion liras ($111 million).

While extending rediscount credits, an increase in the share of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and export performance will be taken into account, the bank said in a statement on Sept. 12.

In July, the bank decided to increase the daily limit for these loans from 300 million lira to 1.5 billion liras.

Meanwhile, the provinces that were hit by the powerful earthquakes in February have suffered a $2.5 billion loss in export revenues, according to the Southeast Textile and Raw Materials Exporters’ Association (GATHİB).

The quake-hit provinces are specialized in textiles and apparel.

Exports from the province of Gaziantep were $10.5 billion last year, while export revenues of the entire region was $12.5 billion last year, said Ahmet Fikret Kileci, the president of GATHİB.

“We set the export revenue target at $15 billion for 2023. Our loss in exports due to the earthquakes is around $2.5 billion.”

He noted that they had to revise their targets two or three times after the earthquakes. “Export performance was very strong in January, with exports rising 16 percent. Then the disaster hit.”

Exports from the region recovered slightly in March and June saw a significant increase, he said.

“However, things got worse in the following month due to developments unrelated to our region. There are turmoil, wars, and economic recession in our main export markets,” Kileci explained.

Food and packaging companies in the region are doing much better compared to textile firms, he added.

“Maybe, you can go without buying clothes for five years, but you cannot cut on health, food, and education spending. People’s priority is not clothing anymore.”