New incentive system awaits Turkish PM
ISTANBUL-Hürriyet Daily News
An employee is seen working on an assembly line in a Bossa plant in southern province of Adana. New incentive scheme may accelerate domestic and foreign investment, boosting employment, according to Industry Minister Ergün. AA photo
Turkey’s new incentives system will rank provinces in terms of social-economic development, according to Nihat Ergün, the industry minister, adding that all the studies regarding the new incentives system have been completed.It is up to the schedule of the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s to reveal the system, he said.
The previous incentive system was based on regions under the responsibility of development agencies. Now a new economic and social development index rating all the provinces will be used, so the provinces may fall under different incentive regions under the new system.
“Provinces which are attached to the same development agency may be in different incentive regions due to their development index,” he said, adding that the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) was compiling the development index.
Incentive regions are determined by TÜİK’s latest index, published last year.
A new feature is an investment rebate system, Ergün said. Under this, investors may rebate a new investment from their current business, which may encourage additional investments in different incentive regions. Reducing the country’s current account deficit of Turkey is one of the main objectives of the new incentive system he said.
Meanwhile, the Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan said that the date for the launch of the new incentives system might be revealed after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s returns from South Korea, echoing Ergün’s statement.
Studies for the new incentive system kicked off in July 2011 and obtained views from more than 750 institutions and organizations.
Ministry doubles branding incentives
ANKARA – Anatolia News Agency
The Turkish government has increased incentives for producer associations and exporter unions to $500,000 per year to encourage branding of Turkish products and instill an image of quality in products labeled “Made in Turkey” abroad.
The incentives cover advertising and promotion expenses of qualifying projects for exporters’ unions, producers’ associations and unions branding their products abroad.
The government increased the financial assistance per project from $250,000 to $500,000.
Roughly 80 percent of project costs may receive public financial assistance. If a project is set up by more than one exporter union, some $250,000 will be granted to every union that takes part in the project.
Unions are eligible to apply for funds again after a publicly-funded project expires.
