Mr. Erdoğan Özegen, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Credit Guarantee Fund (KGF),
Esteemed MÜSİAD Branch Presidents and MÜSİAD Members,
Esteemed Members of the Press;
It is a great honour for me to be together with you at our ‘KGF Opportunities’ meeting held at the MÜSİAD Head Office; welcome, you have honoured us...
The Turkish economy began the year 2022 with brand-new hopes and with initiatives that will shape the future. Thanks to our competitive and high-quality production power, the technical infrastructure we possess and our qualified workforce in different sectors, we are advancing towards a future far brighter than today. I would like to underline with pride that, alongside our domestic and national production power, our potential to develop innovative business models has enabled us to bring about collaborations and projects that make a difference in every sector.
Esteemed Guests;
In this new era we still have a long road ahead of us and countless projects to carry out. We are aware that the most important driving force that will carry Türkiye into the future is supporting our entrepreneurs, investors and industrialists operating in different sectors. For this reason, in addition to our cooperation efforts across the private and public sectors, we work shoulder to shoulder with various NGOs and with ecosystems focused on developing the entrepreneurship ecosystem.
The Credit Guarantee Fund (KGF) is one of the foremost institutions guiding our SMEs, which make up 99 percent of Türkiye, and our entrepreneurs, investors and industrialists who stand out with their dynamic business models, in developing value-added business processes — in other words, supporting them in realizing their dreams.
Esteemed Guests;
The Credit Guarantee Fund strategically supports Türkiye's growth and development by facilitating access to finance for all enterprises, above all for promising ones. Within this scope, it moves forward with the vision of being a financial support institution that, through national and international collaborations, provides access to credit for both SMEs and non-SME enterprises.
Established in 1991, KGF has been actively carrying out its activities since 1994. Operating its credit guarantee mechanisms more effectively after 2002, KGF facilitates access to financial opportunities on favourable terms for enterprises in Türkiye that produce, create employment and generate added value, largely businesses of SME scale.
KGF, which to date has provided a total of TRY 571.3 billion in guarantees through its own resources and the Treasury guarantee, has generated a total commercial loan volume of approximately TRY 667.6 billion. The fact that 498,388 companies have benefited from these guarantee-backed packages is the most important proof of how KGF contributes to production and to new business models...
Esteemed Guests;
The guarantees provided to investors, entrepreneurs and industrialists and their access to credit on favourable terms will rapidly clear the way for Türkiye. In this context, I would like to state that KGF's current guarantee-backed loan programs are continuing at full speed.
The contribution of the Additional Employment Support Package, extended under the Treasury-backed KGF guarantee, to employment processes is undeniable. Under the Manufacturing-Based Import Substitution Support Package, the provision of guarantee support of TRY 35 million for SMEs and TRY 250 million for non-SME companies is one of the most important forms of support that will shape the development of the Turkish economy…
The collateralization of the loans to be used to finance the investments of enterprises holding investment incentive certificates issued by the Ministry of Industry and Technology in Regions 3, 4, 5 and 6 also continues with positive momentum.
The Cold Storage Unit and Refrigerated Vehicles Support Package, carried out together with KOSGEB, contributes to minimizing the product losses caused by the absence of a cold chain in Türkiye and to reducing food inflation. Particularly during the Covid period, KGF provided guarantees for individual loans for the first time. Under the KGF guarantee, a total loan resource of TRY 42 billion was mobilized for individual users.
Esteemed Guests;
At this point, it is notable that KGF makes a significant contribution to Türkiye's export-oriented activities. To date, access to approximately TRY 105 billion in loans backed by own resources and the Treasury has been provided to our exporters throughout the banking sector, above all Eximbank, under the KGF guarantee...
As long as our industrialists accelerate their initiatives towards the digital transformation process triggered by the pandemic and increase their advanced technology investments, we can easily reach the export target of USD 300 billion set for 2023.
KGF's support, through the TURWIB Program based on the resource provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), for enterprises with women managers encourages women's participation in business life. Viewed from a different perspective, it is notable that KGF loans generate a 17 percent increase in employment at the enterprise level.
As MÜSİAD, in line with the same vision, we too aim to increase the number of MÜSİAD Women members across Türkiye and to support women's employment.
Esteemed Guests;
As MÜSİAD, we will continue to work in synergy with both KGF and other institutions in line with the mentorship and cooperation projections that our SMEs, entrepreneurs, investors and industrialists need in their medium- and long-term projections.
As MÜSİAD, we will always stand by our SMEs, our industrialists, our investors and our entrepreneurs for a Türkiye that is productive and innovative in every field. We will offer an innovative road map to all our stakeholders who will positively distinguish Türkiye in every sector, from automotive to food, from health to logistics, from education to construction, and who will carry product and service quality to the highest level.
In order to carry our domestic and national production power to a much more advanced level, we will continue to work tirelessly with our 11,000 members and our 60,000 companies.
As I conclude my remarks, I extend my respects to Mr. Erdoğan Özegen, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Credit Guarantee Fund (KGF), who stands at the centre of all these developments, to our esteemed MÜSİAD branch presidents, to our MÜSİAD members and to the esteemed members of the press, and I hope that 2022 will bring unique business and investment opportunities to the Turkish business world.