The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB) has announced a new 50 billion lira tranche of its "Nefes" (Breath) loan for small and medium-sized enterprises, with applications opening on Tuesday, 3 November, Anadolu Agency (AA), as carried by NTV, and Karar reported.
The programme is run by TOBB together with the Credit Guarantee Fund (KGF) and participating banks. It is designed to meet the working-capital needs of SMEs. TOBB said 45 billion lira had already been lent under the scheme since it was launched in June, according to the reports.
Loan terms
Each business can borrow up to 5 million lira. Firms that took out a Nefes loan in earlier rounds can apply for an additional amount that brings their total to 5 million lira, the reports said.
The loans have a maturity of up to 48 months, including a six-month grace period on principal repayments. The annual interest rate is 36% for loans of up to 24 months and 34% for longer maturities.
Who can apply and where
The loan is open to businesses that are members of a chamber or commodity exchange affiliated with TOBB, and it is provided under KGF’s equity guarantee programme (Özkaynak Kefalet Programı).
Eight banks are taking part: Ziraat Bankası, Halkbank, VakıfBank, DenizBank, Garanti BBVA, Yapı Kredi, QNB and Ziraat Katılım, according to both reports.
TOBB President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said the demand seen in the first phase showed how much the real economy needed the scheme, AA reported, while Karar quoted him as saying the loan had delivered 45 billion lira to SMEs in five months.
Sources
- TOBB Nefes Kredisi’nde başvurular 3 Kasım’da başlıyor (NTV / AA)
- 50 milyar liralık ilave "nefes kredisi" desteği açıklandı (Karar)
Photo: Sourabh.biswas003 / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
