Loan aid for agriculture
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Hürriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 14, 2009 00:00
ANKARA - Denizbank, Turkey’s sixth-largest private bank by assets, has launched a special project with the Agricultural Ministry to support agricultural production in the country.
The project, called "Agricultural Mobilization," will last four months and includes financial credits, training assistance and other forms of support. "The agriculture sector needs to be mobilized, just like in war or during natural disasters," Denizbank Chief Executive Hakan Ateş told journalists in Ankara yesterday. With support from business partners Turkcell, Turkey’s
largest mobile-phone operator; Petrol Ofisi, a leading fuel distributor; and Türk Traktor, a tractor manufacturer, Denizbank and the Agricultural Ministry aim to create additional support for farmers through incentives and new facilities. They expect the effort to help reduce input costs by 200 million Turkish Liras. Growth in the agriculture sector continues despite the negative impacts of the global crisis, Ateş said. "In the last quarter of 2008, the Turkish economy shrank by 6.2 percent, but agriculture grew by 4.2 percent," he said.
Denizbank has increased its focus on agriculture in recent years and became the second leading bank in agricultural loans, after state-owned Ziraat Bank, which was established in Ottoman times to support farmers. Denizbank has a market share of 8.7 percent.
Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker, who also attended the conference, hailed the new initiative. "This is a project that will make very important contributions to the sector," he said. "The Turkish economy grew by 1.1 percent in 2008. If agriculture did not post a growth rate of 4.1 percent, the overall economic expansion would have fallen to 0.6 percent."
Eker said agriculture plays an important role as a "buffer sector" in the government’s efforts to decrease unemployment, noting that 150,000 people were employed in agriculture in 2008.
largest mobile-phone operator; Petrol Ofisi, a leading fuel distributor; and Türk Traktor, a tractor manufacturer, Denizbank and the Agricultural Ministry aim to create additional support for farmers through incentives and new facilities. They expect the effort to help reduce input costs by 200 million Turkish Liras. Growth in the agriculture sector continues despite the negative impacts of the global crisis, Ateş said. "In the last quarter of 2008, the Turkish economy shrank by 6.2 percent, but agriculture grew by 4.2 percent," he said.
Denizbank has increased its focus on agriculture in recent years and became the second leading bank in agricultural loans, after state-owned Ziraat Bank, which was established in Ottoman times to support farmers. Denizbank has a market share of 8.7 percent.
Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker, who also attended the conference, hailed the new initiative. "This is a project that will make very important contributions to the sector," he said. "The Turkish economy grew by 1.1 percent in 2008. If agriculture did not post a growth rate of 4.1 percent, the overall economic expansion would have fallen to 0.6 percent."
Eker said agriculture plays an important role as a "buffer sector" in the government’s efforts to decrease unemployment, noting that 150,000 people were employed in agriculture in 2008.