Natural gas used in industry was increased by 50.8% and electricity by 50%.
With the last hike, the industrialist and producer, whose energy cost has almost tripled since 2020, is also exploited by banks.
Banks, which borrowed money from the Central Bank from 12 percent with the last interest rate cut, give commercial loans at 35-40 percent or even 50 percent, while making huge profits from the difference.
Producers who turn to leasing for machinery and equipment investment and whose payments are multiplied with the exchange rate are also fed to bank profits!
BANK PROFITS INCREASED 420 PERCENT!
President Erdoğan, in his speech yesterday at the 21st Ordinary General Assembly of the Confederation of Turkish Tradesmen and Craftsmen (TESK), said, "My biggest struggle is interest. We lowered the interest rate to 12 percent, is it enough, we need to lower it even more. We suggest that this should go down further in the upcoming Monetary Policy Committees."
While Erdogan was saying these words, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA) data released at the same time were the kind that revealed who was pleased with this policy. According to BRSA data, banks increased their profits by 420 percent, or more than 5 times, in the January-August period compared to the previous year, to 252.2 billion liras.
Domestic production, which is perhaps the only way out to save Turkey from the swamp of economic crisis, has been struggling with input costs in recent years.
The industrialists and producers, who made production based on imports and were already in a difficult situation with the fluctuations in the exchange rate, were left almost helpless with the exorbitant energy hikes made one after the other. The natural gas used per second was increased by 50.8% and electricity by 50%.
With the last hike, industrialists and producers, whose energy cost has almost tripled since 2020, are also exploited by banks. Even the banks that were established to contribute to the so-called producers have doubled their commercial loan interest rates for the markets in recent years.
LOW INTEREST POLICY SERVED THE BANKS
The economic crisis, which has intensified with the pandemic, has put every sector in difficulty with its tradesmen, citizens, farmers and producers for more than 3 years. However, in the Turkish economy, which was handed over to the interest lobby, the most profitable sector in recent years has been the finance and banking sector.
According to the data reflected in the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) and BTDK reports, the banking sector achieved record profits with the national income paid to interest. Banks, which applied high interest rates on financial leasing and loans under the name of supporting production, put the producer in the interest clamp.
Thanks to the government's low interest policy, banks that receive low-interest loans from the Central Bank multiply their profits with the loans they give to the markets.
According to TUIK data, the Turkish economy grew by 7.6 percent in the second quarter of 2022. However, it was the finance sector that captured the lion's share of 26.6% in this growth. In other words, banks that received low-interest loans from the Central Bank increased their profits by 420 percent in 2022 compared to the first 8 months of the previous year, thanks to the commercial loans they gave to the markets at high interest rates.
INVESTMENT IN INTEREST INCREASES, PRODUCER IS BLOCKED
The National Newspaper drew attention to the sectoral problems in Turkey with the headline “Production Has No Energy”, in which we brought up the problems of industrialists and producers.
Businessmen and industrialists speaking to our newspaper drew attention to the fact that they were on the verge of bankruptcy and that domestic production in our country wanted to be ended. Thanks to the country's resources, which are donated to the interest lobby instead of domestic production, the profits of the banks are multiplied, while the industrialists and producers are crushed by exorbitant energy hikes and exchange rates. The increase in the current account deficit, which grows every year, and the fact that we are increasingly dependent on imports in consumption reveal how the interest lobby is supported in Turkey and how it is hindered in its production.