The Turkish government on Wednesday said it was carrying out works that would reduce financing costs for exporters and would make related announcements next month as part of a broader strategy to enhance trade.
The government aims to implement 77 concrete steps in 2025, increasing the export support budget to approximately TL 33 billion ($930 million), with TL 25.5 billion allocated to goods shipments and TL 7.3 billion to services exports.
A total of 27,700 exporters are set to benefit from these initiatives, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat told an event in Istanbul to announce the "2025 Export Action Plan."
“Next month, we will deliver good news about a new reduction in the financing costs for our exporters,” Bolat said, part of an adjustment he said was being worked on together with the central bank and the Treasury and Finance Ministry.
Exports have been among the priority areas that the government is seeking to rely on as it seeks to rebalance the economy's growth composition.
Outbound shipments rose by 2.5% year-over-year to a record $262 billion in 2024, according to official data. That marked a fourth straight annual peak that was up from $255.8 billion in 2023.
Imports dropped by 4.9% compared to a year ago to $344.1 billion in 2024. The trade deficit narrowed by 22.7% year-over-year to $82.2 billion from $106.3 billion in 2023.
The record came despite challenges such as an uncertain global outlook and slowing demand in some of Türkiye's key export markets like the European Union.
Bolat expressed optimism for 2025, acknowledging that while 2024 was particularly challenging, economic growth is expected to accelerate from the spring of this year.
Also addressing the event, Mustafa Gültepe, head of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM), also reflected on what he said was a challenging year but expressed belief that the worst has been left behind.
"Despite the tough year we’ve left behind, I believe that in 2025 we will see policies that will support more production and exporters. The hardest part is behind us," Gültepe stated.
Exporters have been particularly affected by a discrepancy between high costs and low foreign exchange rates.
Authorities in Türkiye have been pursuing aggressive monetary tightening since June 2023, attempting to rein in inflation, which ended 2024 at nearly 44.4%, and stabilize the Turkish lira.
The central bank launched its easing cycle last month, cutting its benchmark policy rate by 250 basis points to 47.5%, as annual inflation heads down. Between mid-2023 and last year, strong growth in price gains and currency market pressures had seen it ramp rates up to 50% from 8.5%.
As part of its economic program, Türkiye introduced measures to cap strong domestic demand – one of the main reasons for higher imports – and to boost investments and exports to improve the current account balance.
The first three to four months of this year, Gültepe said, would continue to pose difficulties, a period that could extend up to six months. However, he remained confident that export growth would accelerate in the second half of 2025.
"Some sectors faced significant challenges, especially in terms of competitiveness. However, thanks to the strong export performance of certain sectors, we managed to reach $262 billion and achieve a 2.5% growth," said Gültepe.
"Our target for 2025 is $280 billion, which translates to a roughly 7% increase."
Türkiye’s export credit bank, Türk Eximbank, provided $48.7 billion in support in 2024, a figure that Bolat said is aimed to be lifted to $50 billion this year.
"We will also subsidize a portion of the interest or profit share that exporters will pay for the loans they use under Türk Eximbank’s high-value-added export and market diversification credit programs," said the minister.
Bolat also stressed the aim to grant green passports to 8,500 new exporters this year, facilitating easier international travel for business purposes.
