07.04.2020 Ankara
Urging all banks to support the companies that are in trouble, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Our companies are being turned down by banks without their applications even being processed, saying that 'they’ve reached their limit.’ I want to issue a call to all the banks. This is neither the time to think of profitability, nor play favorites.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu said in a statement on the
subject:
“The whole world is going through a very
difficult period because of the coronavirus outbreak. During this period, the
activities of many of our businesses in our country have been temporarily
stopped. Apart from a few sectors, all our companies have significant turnover
losses.
During this period, our government has
announced many measures to keep the economic effects under control. The main
backbone of these measures is tax deferrals, short work allowances and low-cost
operating loans. All three measures are crucial for the continuation of the
activities of our companies and the protection of employment.
KGF's bail capacity was increased by 250
billion liras, especially within the scope of measures announced by our
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in order to achieve the expansion of credit.
However, complaints from 81 provinces to our chambers
and exchanges show that these loans are difficult to reach for our companies
that are suffering from financing shortages by banks. Our companies are being
turned down by banks without their applications even being processed, saying
that 'they’ve reached their limit’. There are even criticisms that loans are
being used by large companies with high credit score, not our companies that
are adversely affected by the coronavirus.
I want to issue a call to all the banks. This is
neither the time to think of profitability, nor play favorites. We're all in
the same boat. Without the real sector, there's no banking sector. Our
government already takes 80% of the risk. I call on all our banks to support
all our companies that are in trouble.”