The conditions have been relieved for beneficiary SMEs in six provinces affected by the earthquake on February 6, 2023 under the Employment Committed SME Finance Support Programme of FOSTER Project, financed by the European Union, managed by KfW Development Bank and implemented by KOSGEB.
The following conveniences have been provided to beneficiary SMEs in the earthquake affected FOSTER Project provinces Adana, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis and Şanlıurfa.
Revision in 50% Job Creation Criterion in Six Provinces!
The requirement that at least half of the jobs committed shall be created, will be skipped in the earthquake affected project provinces, namely Adana, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Kilis, Kahramanmaraş and Hatay. Loan recipient SMEs within Interest Rate / Profit Share Subsidy Mechanism in these six provinces will be free to fulfil their commitments through job retention or job creation.
Flexibility in SSI Premium Days
A minimum of 60 SSI premium days must be paid for the new employee in the relevant quarter in order for them to qualify as a “job creation” under the Programme. The condition is revised for the SMEs in earthquake affected provinces as “at least 30 SSI premium days shall be paid for the new employee in respective quarter” instead of 60 days. SMEs that make the 30 SSI premium days payment for each “retained” or “created” employment in respective quarter will be deemed to fulfil the employment commitment. There will be no control and comparison of the previous year’s average SSI premium days paid for retained employees.
Environmental & Social Compliance Monitoring Will Not Be Conducted Until August 31st!
Monitoring for the Environmental and Social Compliance that has been planned to be conducted in Adana, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis and Şanlıurfa will not be conducted between February 6, 2023 and August 31, 2023.
Flexibility in Exclusion Criteria
SMEs failing to fulfil their employment commitments for two consecutive quarters are excluded from the Employment Committed SME Finance Support Programme. The amendment extends the exclusion period for the beneficiary SMEs in six provinces to four consecutive quarters (or twelve consecutive months).