We are Boosting the Impact of Eximbank Support to our Country’s Exports

Türkiye once again equalized its record in exports defying the negative effects of the slowdown in global markets and parity. Türkiye's exports in 2022 increased by 12.9% as compared to 2021 and rose to USD 254.2 billion.

Export was the main driving force behind our country’s economic growth in the reporting period. In this vein, the mission Türk Eximbank has undertaken gained even more significance. At Türk Eximbank, we continue to work towards contributing to growing our country’s exports and providing the support our exporters need. Our target is to increase the support we furnish to Turkish exporters by expanding our product and service array in this direction.

In 2022, we have introduced new implementations that will augment the contribution of our support to Turkish exporters to our country’s export strategies. Under the Performance Potential Assessment Model we have developed to this end for exporter companies, we are taking into consideration added-value and high-tech exports, priority sectors and target countries, and we are increasing the share of the support we extend to these strategic areas.

With its strategic transformation in progress, Türk Eximbank simplifies and speeds up its processes with a digital focus with the aim of enhancing the quality of service rendered to our exporters, while charging ahead with its efforts to acquire a structure that will allow the Bank to offer branch-independent service to exporters.

Türk Eximbank will keep increasing its support to exports.

In 2022, Türk Eximbank kept producing solutions for exporters’ diverse financing needs. To this end, our available products were updated and upgraded, expanding the coverage of our Bank’s services. With the second tranche of the loan agreement signed for USD 100 million on 6 May 2020 with the Islamic Development Bank under the guarantee of the Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Treasury and Finance, a murabaha fund, i.e. cost-plus financing, in the amount of USD 55 million was secured on 9 June 2022.

We kept servicing our exporters with diversified domestic and international funding sources including our syndicated loans. As Türk Eximbank, we believe that the long-lasting relationships we establish with domestic and international banks and institutions underpin the successful deals we realize year after year. In May, we rolled over our syndicated loan that is the Bank’s first sustainability-linked facility with a ratio of 104% with the participation of 26 international financial institutions. This was followed by another sustainability-linked syndicated loan we rolled over with a ratio of 101.4% in November, which was participated by 24 international banks.

We are attaching particular importance to establishing new partnerships with other export credit agencies and regional multi-lateral financial institutions and to strengthening the bonds of cooperation for further leveraging the support extended to our exporters. In 2023, we will continue to sign memoranda of understanding of a general nature and those that pave the way for collaborations in third countries.

In keeping with our mission of being by the side of our exporters as Türk Eximbank, we are offering service out of 34 different locations consisting of 23 branches and 11 liaison offices in order to have direct contact with our exporters, to cater to their needs on-site and faster. Hence, we maintain a presence in our provinces realizing 94% of our exports, and sustain our close contact with our exporters. Furthermore, we have made numerous services of our Bank accessible through online platforms without necessitating a branch visit with our electronic banking applications in line with needs and demands.

A total of USD 45 billion support to exports

During 2022, Türk Eximbank’s cash loans to our exporters amounted to USD 19.6 billion; we have created a secure sales environment for them on the back of insurance/reinsurance support totaling USD 25.3 billion. All in all, export credits we provided totaled USD 45 billion. In 2023, on the other hand, we are targeting to bring our total support to the order of USD 50 billion.

The number of exporter firms extended support by our Bank reached 15,440 in 2022. As Türk Eximbank, we are targeting to reach a higher number of exporters in keeping with our policy to expand our base, and we are delighted that SMEs make up 99% of 1,744 exporters that made use of the Bank’s supports for the first time ever in the past one year. While SMEs accounted for around 60% of the exporters benefiting from our Bank’s services in 2017, this ratio rose to 81% in 2022.

Türk Eximbank added new ones to its products and services in 2022, as it did in previous years.

Besides upgrading and diversifying our loan and insurance products, we are also carrying on with the expansion of our sphere of activity.

Co-founded by the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) and Türk Eximbank to facilitate our exporters’ access to financing and contribute to resolution of their collateralization problems, İhracatı Geliştirme A.Ş., a joint stock company, kickstarted a new era in export finance. In 2022, Türk Eximbank disbursed TL 13.5 billion in loans to more than 2600 exporter companies, 93% of which were SMEs, under the guarantee of İGE. Furthermore, a Prefinance Support Program protocol has been signed in 2022 by and between the Ministry of Trade, Türk Eximbank and İGE.

As part of our insurance programs that represent another major area of our Bank’s operations, participation (takaful) insurance development activities were brough to completion, alongside our fund disbursement programs we have launched in line with participation banking principles. Under the program introduced, our exporters’ forward export receivables with a maturity of up to 360 days will be insured against commercial and political risks.

We made the first deal under the Rediscount Credit Based in Swap Agreements we have co-launched with the CBRT (Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye) and we are targeting to expand the facility in 2023. Rediscount Credit Based in Swap Agreements is a key product which is disbursed based on the swap agreement with the central banks of the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, United Arab Emirates and Qatar and the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye to be used in the payments related to the financing of commercial activities between the Republic of Türkiye and the said countries and which supports trade using local currencies. We are intending to expand the coverage of the credit facility we initially implemented for imports from the People’s Republic of China to entail other countries in the future.

BESIDES UPGRADING AND DIVERSIFYING OUR LOAN AND INSURANCE PRODUCTS, WE ARE ALSO CARRYING ON WITH THE EXPANSION OF OUR SPHERE OF ACTIVITY.

We are Breaking New Ground in the Banking Industry

We are paying regard to economic, environmental, social and governance risks while realizing our activities and offering our services. In this framework, we qualified for ISO 14064:2018 certification, being the first bank to calculate our carbon and GHG emissions stemming from our operating and investment loans, as well as those resulting from our operations.

In addition to the above, we are taking care to keep a close eye on all global and domestic developments in relation to sustainability and to brief and support our exporters in relation to these matters within the scope of Paris Climate Agreement, to which Türkiye is also a party.

Also in the future, we will carry on with our activities in alignment with our country’s export goals in keeping with our sense of responsibility.

Ali GÜNEY

General Manager