Minister hails ‘golden year’ in support for exporters

ANKARA

Turkey supported Turkish exporters with 3.2 billion Turkish Liras ($543.2 million) in 2019, breaking the record in the history of the Republic, the country’s trade minister has said.

“We will offer a support budget of 3.8 billion liras to our exporters for goods and services exports in 2020,” Ruhşan Pekcan told Anadolu Agency.

Pekcan said her ministry every year extends financial supports to create new exporters, for the exporters to be able to keep up with their global competitors and help exporters create their own brands.

The support is given in three phases, the preparations for exports, catch up with the global market, and branding and design, she said, adding that most of the support packages are also available for service exporters.

2019 was a “golden year” in terms of support for the exporters, Pekcan said.

“In support payments, we broke the record of the history of the Republic and we reached highest state support for exports to date, with a total of 3.2 billion liras including 2.4 billion liras for good exports,” she said.

“In 2020, we have a total support budget of 3.8 billion liras for our exports of goods and services, with 3.1 billion liras of the number being allocated for export of goods. Our goal is to support our exporters by using the entire budget.”

The applications for the support started on Jan. 1, she noted.

Last year, payment of 685 million liras were made as part of the Turquality program, which supports companies in their brand-building efforts to become a global player in the international markets with their own brands, aiming to create a positive perception of Turkish goods and services via strong brands.

“Currently, 312 companies with 325 brands, 199 of them in the Turquality program and 126 in Marka program, are being supported,” Pekcan said.

The minister noted that Turkey particularly supports design firms and design competitions, believing in the power of design, which is a key element for value added exports.

“Fifteen design companies, four design offices and 19 design competitions are being supported,” Pekcan said.

“The payments in design support exceeded 150 million liras in 2019. The most significant indicator that the efforts of our ministry are yielding results is that while the unit price for Turkish exports in 2018 was $1.33, the unit price for the exports of the companies that benefited from the design supports was at $13.1.”

Some 13,550 firms were supported with 624.1 million liras ($106 million) for international fairs in 2019, while 170 million liras ($28.8 million) in support was used for exporting firms’ ads, branding, office, shop, and warehouse expenses, she added. In 2019, the ministry also spent 80 million liras ($13.5 million) on market research, e-commerce website memberships, procurement committees, and acquisition financing.