Amendments have been made to beneficiary groups for incentives offered by banks and certain credit guarantee institutions. The Turkish Treasury offers these incentives with the intention of enabling certain businesses to access financial credits, as well as ensure efficiency of the credit system. Major changes affect young entrepreneurs (between 18 and 30 years old), travel agencies, as well as yacht builders.

The Council of Ministers' Decision regarding Amendments to the Decision on the Procedures and Principles of Incentives to be provided by the Treasury to Credit Guarantee Institutions ("Amendment Decision") was published in Official Gazette number 29566 on 18 December 2015, entering into effect on the same date. The Amendment Decision makes changes to the earlier Council of Ministers' Decision regarding the Procedures and Principles of Incentives to be provided by the Treasury to Credit Guarantee Institutions, number 2015/7331 and dated 25 February 2015 ("Decision"). The Decision outlines procedures and principles for the Treasury's incentives, as well as defines the eligible beneficiary groups.

Accordingly, key changes under the Amendment Decision include:

  • Introducing "young entrepreneurs" as an eligible beneficiary group. These are defined as businesses where at least half of the total shares are owned by persons between 18 and 30 years old, who have at least a primary school qualification on the date of the credit application.
  • An existing beneficiary group under the Decision were travel agencies which brought at least 400,000 tourists to Turkey from certain designated countries during the year preceding the credit application. Designated countries included Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kirghistan, Uzbekistan, Russian Federation, Turkmenistan and Ukraine. The Amendment Decision expands these countries to now also include: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
  • Yachts on or over 24 meters length are now considered "ships", within the scope of the Decision. Therefore, businesses engaged in yacht construction for vessels this size will also be able to benefit from credits granted for ship construction, provided they also meet other eligibility criteria.

Please see this link for full text of the Amendment Decision (only available in Turkish).

Information first published in the MA | Gazette, a fortnightly legal update newsletter produced by Moroğlu Arseven.

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