By News Center

Trade Minister Mehmet Mus made public export figures. In the period from January to October 2022 compared to 2021, "our exports climbed by 15.4% and reached 209.5 billion dollars," the minister said.

Mehmet Mus said that TRY10 billion worth of smuggled products were seized in anti-smuggling operations by the customs enforcement teams.

In his report to the Parliamentary Planning and Budget Committee on the 2023 draft budget, Mus stated that the Covid-19 coronavirus circumstances had greatly accelerated e-commerce in Turkiye as well as around the world.

Stating that the e-commerce volume, which was approximately TRY161 billion in the first six months of last year, increased to TRY348 billion in the same period of 2022, Mus said that with the amendment made to the law "On the Regulation of Electronic Commerce", a fair and transparent market will be established and that the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, and artisans' rights will be protected.

He added that the number of pledge agreements registered with the Movable Pledge in Commercial Transactions Application, which facilitates access to finance by providing all movable assets of economic value to merchants, craftsmen, and farmers as collateral, reached 64,000.

"With these contracts, our commercial actors have reached the opportunity of financing in 2022 in return for a guaranteed amount of approximately TRY774 billion," he said.

Mus added that "as of October 31, the total amount of interest-reduced loans granted throughout the year topped TRY56 billion," adding that they continue to help the tradesmen and artisans, who were damaged by Covid-19 with 50% and 100% interest-discounted loans. Halkbank released new financing options for artisans and tradespeople to the general public. In this case, customers, who utilized a Halkbank loan and followed through, were given the chance to pay off their obligations with a loan for up to 36 months, with a maturity of up to 36 months, and an interest rate of 4 percent. The interest rates of the loans were reduced to 7.5 percent, and the upper limits of the loans were increased to TRY500,000 for business loans and TRY1.5 million for investment loans,” he said.

By the end of September, more than 453,000 applications had been submitted to the consumer arbitration committees. In the same time-frame, over 441,000 applications had been completed, and a dispute involving around TRY900 million had been resolved.

Mus said that more than 4 million export declarations were processed in customs administrations in the first ten months of the year, up 5.6 percent from the same period the year before. Approximately 9.2 million cars and 108 million people were also handled during this time, he said, describing the ongoing modernization projects at the customs gates in Mus, Turkgozu, Gurbulak, and Pazarkule.

According to Mus, "project works on the renewal of Sanliurfa Customs Directorate, Mersin Laboratory Directorate, Aegean Customs and Foreign Trade Regional Directorate, Sirnak/Silopi, and Hakkari/Yuksekova lodgings, and Ceylanpnar Customs Gate; Bal?kesir and Nizip customs directorates became operational in 2022, and we will increase the number of directorates at Çukurova Airport to 167 in the coming period”.

Mus observed that in the first ten months of the year, over 10,000 tenders were submitted electronically, generating more than TRY1 billion in revenue - a rise of 122% over the same time last year.

Mus continued his remarks on combating smuggling, by saying that "within the framework of the National Scanning System Project, we placed our first national scanning system into action in Alsancak Port".

Following that, we began work on local manufacturing of semi-fixed and mobile scanning equipment and signed a cooperation treaty with our Defense Industry Presidency. Because of this research, our country will be one of a small handful of countries capable of mass-producing scanning systems. With our Scanning Network Project, we are developing a system that can use artificial intelligence to evaluate the x-ray pictures of cars and containers scanned at customs gates at the same time, both in the center and on the field. As a consequence of fighting operations, a total of TRY10 billion in illicit items were recovered. The Fuel Special Team of our ministry discovered TRY4 billion in tax losses and TRY10 billion in phony bills this year, and 1,262 tons of illicit fuel was confiscated"

Mus further emphasized that by conducting research to prevent abuses done through international sales, they had saved 30 billion public money.

"We have seized the largest amount of liquid methamphetamine of all time, one of which is 1,018 kg and the other 622 kg at the Gurbulak Customs Gate," Mus added, citing instances of their efforts in the battle against drug smuggling. At Istanbul Ambarli Port, a record seizure of 2,091 kg was seized. We impounded 338 kg of captagon in Istanbul and 404 kilos at Cilvegozu Customs Gate.

Mus added that smuggled electronic devices worth TRY242.4 million were seized as part of commercial goods seizures.

"On the other hand, 13.4 tons of drugs, 31.9 tons of chemicals, used in drug production, 9,410 tons of fuel, 2.4 million packs of cigarettes, 21 million cigarette papers and filters, 3.1 million electronic cigarettes, 8,237 tons of food, and approximately 26,000 historical artifacts were seized as a result of operations carried out in the scope of combating smuggling, particularly drugs, fuel, tobacco products, and alcoholic beverages. In the future time, the ministry will maintain its unwavering battle against smuggling," he said.

Minister Mus stated that since November 2019, when accreditation applications to the Halal Accreditation Agency (HAK) began to be accepted, 80 accreditation requests have been received from 23 different countries, including Turkiye, and that the HAK has taken 27 accreditation decisions and that the number of halal certificates within the scope of accreditation assurance has exceeded 790.

"A total of TRY17.1 billion of the Ministry of Trade's 2023 budget" Mus announced that the ministry's entire budget for 2023 is TRY17,124,310,000 to be utilized in accordance with its aims and operations.

Of this amount, TRY13,335,123,000 will be allocated to the Trade Regulation, Development and Facilitation Program, TRY1,988,706,000 to the Management and Support Program, TRY1,411,43,000 to the Fight Against Informal Economy Program, TRY368 million. The Consumer Protection, Safety, and Standardization of Products and Services Program will get TRY634,000, while Non-Program Expenses have been allocated TRY20,804,000. According to Mus, TRY10,466,16,000 from the ministry's budget for 2023 are earmarked for current transfers. He added that the majority of it is earmarked for costs linked to assisting exporters and dealers.