Turkey to Give 4.25 Billion Lira in Aid For TRNC

North Cyprus News - PM Sucuoglu - VP Octay
[Prime Minister Faiz Sucuoğlu – Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay]
Thursday, 14 April 2022

Vice President of the Republic of Turkey Fuat Oktay and TRNC Prime Minister Faiz Sucuoğlu held a press conference regarding the latest financial protocol agreed between the two countries, Yeniduzen reported.

Vice President Oktay stated that the new Financial Protocol between the two countries has a different dimension and promised “institutional cooperation“:  “We allocated a total of 4.25  billion Turkish Lira to the TRNC for 2022, mainly as grants and some loans“, he said.

Outlining what the money has been earmarked for, Oktay listed the following: the new Presidency Building, a 500-bed hospital in Nicosia, two mobile power plants, the Güzelyurt-Mesarya irrigation projects, and the contribution to the Organize industrial zones.

Oktay said, “Our priority was to focus on areas that were created in line with the needs of the TRNC, that would create value-added work and food-oriented employment, sustainable growth and strengthen the competitive production structure“. He noted that there had been a focus on four main axes.

He listed them as as follows:

1  Public Administration and Public Finance

2  Economic and Financial Policies

3  Social Policies

4  Defence, Security and Justice

Listing the important targets of the signed financial protocol, Fuat Oktay stated that the budget deficit will be eliminated to a great extent, and also talked about “income increasing and expense reducing measures“.

The text of the protocol has not been published yet.

Ercan Airport

Vice President Oktay went on to say:

The new Ercan Airport [construction] has come to an end. Most of the manufacturing has been completed, and the construction of the dual carriageway leading to the airport has also started. We have implemented and continue to implement it step by step with the Customs, e-MEB, e-Tüzel, MAKS, Public Certification Centre (KSM) and the Public Management System. This is actually a very serious project that will make the life of all Turkish Cypriots from the TRNC easier“. 

 Recent History of Payments From Turkey 

Yeniduzen points out that the Turkey-TRNC Financial Cooperation Protocols have not been fully complied with in recent years. The financial resources foreseen in the protocol have been transferred to the island at a rate of one third in the last five years.

In the protocol of 2021, 3.25 billion Turkish Lira were signed for aid and credit.

However, only 1.833 billion Turkish Lira were paid, 1.4 billion Turkish Lira remained on paper, unpaid.

Yeniduzen

Other Stories