State lenders vow to provide loans to Turkey’s real sector

BURSA

The top executives of the three Turkish state lenders - Ziraat, Halkbank and Vakıfbank - have pledged to grant loans to Turkish businesses in a bid to support economic development and increase prosperity.

General managers of Turkey’s three state banks met with businesspeople in the northwestern province of Bursa on Feb. 3.

“With actions of the TBB [Banks Association of Turkey] and our works on production, investments and innovation, we will continue to be side by side with the real sector to ensure a 5 percent [economic] growth in our country and protect employment,” said Alpaslan Çakar, Ziraat general manager and the head of the TBB.

In this context, they have started their tour of meetings with businesspeople from various sectors in the industrial province of Bursa, he added.
In an interview published on Feb. 3, the Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati estimated that gross domestic product growth last year was “expected to be between 10 percent to 11 percent, above the medium-term economy program forecast,” while the economy’s expansion in 2022 “is expected to be around the medium-term economy program forecast of 5 percent.”

In 2020, when the pandemic struck the global economy hard and caused recession in most of the countries, Turkey managed to post a GDP growth of 1.8 percent.
The collaboration of the banking sector and the real sector is vital for “economic development and prosperity,” said Vakıfbank CEO Abdi Serdar Üstünsalih.
“With loans and supportive products, we have created a safe harbor for businesses feeling dismay and facing hahdships in the last two years. I believe that as our ties strengthened in this extraordinary period will help deepening our cooperation in the long term,” he also said.

Halkbank has been serving businesses and depositors in Bursa through 37 branches and 500 employees, said the CEO of tha bank, Osman Arslan.
He also said that the bank granted loans of 6.8 billion Turkish Liras across Bursa last year, or around $768.5 million when the average lira/dollar exchange rate is taken as 8.90 in 2021.
“Excluding personal loans, we have allocated a source of 10 billion liras for Bursa. We will grant those loans with affordable costs,” Arslan said.

İbrahim Burkay, the head of the Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BTSO), noted that businesses need credit supports for climate-friendly investments in accordance with the European Union’s Green Deal.
He said that the 60-billion-lira Credit Guarantee Fund package revealed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan could be driving force to enhance supply chains.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting on Jan. 31, Erdoğan unveiled new schemes to be provided under the Credit Guarantee Fund to support firms, including small and medium-sized companies.
One of schemes will support investments by companies that focus on the production of high value-added products while another scheme will support companies’ export activities, according to the president.
“We aim to create an economic environment which bolsters investment, employment, production, exports and current account surplus,” Erdoğan said.