TOBB Organizes Sector Assemblies’ Consultation Meeting

The Sector Assemblies Consultation Meeting of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), hosted by TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, with the participation of Şahap Kavcıoğlu, President of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey and 65 Sector Assemblies  operating under TOBB, on Tuesday, 2 August.

Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized that the need for loans for investment and working capital has increased due to high inflation and cost increases compared to previous periods and said that by taking the increasing need for working capital into account, it is necessary to be sensitive about the adverse effects of the measures taken and the banking system must facilitate access to loans.

Attending the meeting on behalf of the T. Cement and Cement Products Assembly, Volkan Bozay, Vice President and CEO of TÜRKÇİMENTO, made a speech on the solution proposals for the cement sector's access to finance. Bozay said, “Nearly 80% of our cement production costs are energy. At this point, every increase in foreign currency rates increases our production costs. In the face of such increases, the implementation of an economic policy to eliminate the high volatility in the foreign currency rate and the reduction of the VAT rate received from imported coal and petcoke, which have a significant share in the production cost, will relieve our sector.

Also mentioning the loan interest rates being applied by the banks in his speech, Bozay continued as follows:  
“The loan interest rates remain very high compared to the policy interest rate. In the face of the increase in inflation, no reduction in commercial loan interest rates takes place. This situation increases the financing and investment costs of our companies.    

Hence, as industrialists, we demand necessary precautions be taken to reduce loan interest rates. In our economic model, with which we are adopting the green development revolution in the forthcoming period, it is vital for us to access cost-effective long-term financing resources in order to realize the fixed capital investments that are compulsory for the transformation in our sector.”