Gov’t to provide new support package for SMEs

THE GOVERNMENT is planning the continuation of support packages for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are of vital importance to the operations of the real economy.

Speaking at the parliamentary group meeting of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) yesterday, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım announced that a new loan package for SMEs will be introduced. The new incentive package, as Yıldırım said, provides for a 70 percent non-recourse loan, meaning that SMEs that intend to expand high-technology products and investments and benefit from this loan will pay back only 30 percent.

“The new incentive package, which we call Technology Investments Support Program, aims to direct highadded value goods to SMEs and TL 5 million [$1.32 million] will be lend to each SMEs within this framework. If they want to invest in a special and unique product, the amount may be doubled,” the prime minister explained.

A new support system will serve the government’s purpose to support domestically manufactured products. A separate support system will be applied to products for which intellectual property rights register their local production.

SMEs that aim to manufacture the goods they import will benefit from this support system in case they raise the share of locally produced products, Yıldırım said, announcing that the strategic product support system will start receiving applications within two weeks.

Previously, the Small and Medium Industry Development Organization (KOSGEB) prepared a project to increase the share of SMEs with high technology and added value with a TL 500 million budget. The project stated that each SME can receive up to TL 1 million in loans, including a nonrecourse loan of TL 300,000 and TL 700,000 with a payback plan.