26.07.2017 Kocaeli
TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu addressed the members of the council at the Economic Advisory Meeting held at the Kocaeli Chamber of Commerce. Hisarcıklıoğlu informed the members of the council about the works of chambers / commodity exchanges.
Hisarcıklıoğlu,
who compared the Kocaeli economy with the Turkish economy, said “Kocaeli is the
apple in the eye of Turkey. Kocaeli comes to mind in terms of industry and
trade in Turkey. Turkey's heart beats here. What is the situation in Kocaeli?
The number of companies in Turkey increased by 3% while Kocaeli increased by 4%.
Exports increased by 10% in Turkey, while Kocaeli increased by 39%. Kocaeli's
ISO 1000 had 46 companies in the first 1000 companies 10 years ago, while it
has 64 companies today.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu
reminded that the QR cheques have entered into effect, and as a result, the unfulfilled
cheques have been reduced by 35% in Turkey and by 54% in Kocaeli.
In
a survey on the Kocaeli economy in relation to how it is performing compared to
the Turkish economy in the last year the TOBB President said, “It is 63%
better. There hope in Kocaeli. I wish these figures were all over Turkey. I
wish all of our cities were like you. Turkey would be among the top 10
economies of the world.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu
reminded them of what they have done in the last six months as TOBB and the chamber
/ commodity exchange community, stating that 365 chambers / exchanges put
everything they have in providing their members with loans with annual interest
rate of 9.90%. Hisarcıklıoğlu reported that 27,000 companies benefited from
TOBB Respite Credit.
Hisarcıklıoğlu
stated that they provided 6.5 billion TRY to 260,000 SMEs with interest-free
loan support with of KOSGEB.
Hisarcıklıoğlu,
stated that TOBB’s partner Credit Guarantee Fund can vouch for up to 250
billion TRY and that they’ve provided credit for 297,000 companies with a total
of 190 billion TRY in loans.
- Customs and Trade Minister
Tüfenkci
The
Minister of Customs and Trade Bülent Tüfenkci emphasized Kocaeli’s in place the
Turkish economy.
On
July 15th Tüfenkci stated that shopkeepers, industrialists and
citizens were opposed to treason, and after July 15th, businessmen
continued embrace democracy and economy.
From
2002 to 2016, Tüfenkci stated that the Turkish economy grew by 115% in real
terms. “As a part of the employment mobilization that we have initiated under
the leadership of our President through the efforts of TOBB chamber presidents,
industrialists and businessmen, 1.488 million people have been employed to date.
In April, we have raised the employment level to 28,157 million. Thus, since
the global crisis, about 7.5 million citizens have provided with employment.”