In response to parliamentary question, Finance Minister sends link to Erdoğan's speech

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Minister of Finance and Treasury Berat Albayrak has responded to a parliamentary question about banks' Covid-19 loans with a link to a speech of President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy and Human Rights Inquiry Committee member Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu had asked the minister why people with a monthly income lower than 5,000 lira (662 US dollars) were not granted bank loans despite the government's promise.

In the mentioned speech, Erdoğan says 6.7 million people with a monthly income lower than 5,000 lira were granted 40 billion lira (5.3 billion dollars) of loan.

"We have provided 27 billion lira of financing to one million 300 thousand tradespeople through Halkbank. Also, we have allocated more than 154 billion lira of financing to 197 thousand enterprises, 97 percent of which are SMEs. We will continue to stand by our tradespeople, craftspeople, industrialists, producers and employees," the President further says.

Although Albayrak previously responded to parliamentary questions with links, this was the first time he sent a speech of Erdoğan, who is also his father-in-law.

On September 10, he sent a link in response to a motion containing seven questions about the situation of local journalists in the time of the pandemic. (HA/VK)