Disaster Reconstruction Fund was approved in the Turkish Grand National Assembly

According to the law, in areas declared disaster areas affecting public life due to natural disasters; the Disaster Reconstruction Fund will be established in order to provide, manage and transfer the necessary resources for zoning, infrastructure and superstructure works to the relevant public institutions and organizations. The Bill on the Establishment of the Disaster Reconstruction Fund and the Amendment of the Law on the Regulation of Public Finance and Debt Management was accepted in the General Assembly of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. According to the law, in areas declared disaster areas affecting public life due to natural disasters; the Disaster Reconstruction Fund will be established in order to provide, manage and transfer the necessary resources for zoning, infrastructure and superstructure works to the relevant public institutions and organizations. The Board of Directors of the Fund will be chaired by the Minister of Treasury and Finance; and will consist of the Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, the Minister of Interior, the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, and the President of Strategy and Budget. The Board of Directors, the procedures and principles of which will be determined by the regulation, will determine the projects to which resources will be transferred from the fund, the amount of resources to be transferred, and the expenditure programs. The procedures and principles regarding the structure and operation of the fund will be determined by the regulation to be issued by the fund. The resources of the fund will consist of cash donations, aids, grants and loans from domestic and foreign sources; the appropriation to be added to the budget for this purpose; financing and resources provided by the Fund from domestic and foreign capital and money markets, exempt from all kinds of restrictions in the legislation of institutions and organizations. In accordance with the purpose of the law, resources will be transferred from the fund to the relevant institutions and organizations with the approval of the Board of Directors, to be paid within the scope of the expenditure program for projects decided by the Board of Directors and depending on the realizations. The amounts transferred in this way will be recorded as income in the general budget for the administrations within the scope of the general budget on the one hand, and in the budget of the relevant public institutions and organizations for the other administrations. The fund will be audited in accordance with independent audit standards The fund will be audited in accordance with independent audit standards. Financial data regarding the resources of the fund and their transfer will be shared with the public at the latest on a quarterly basis. Within this framework, the administrations to which resources are transferred will be obliged to provide all necessary information and documents. The fund will be exempt from corporate tax. The Fund will not be deemed to have established an economic enterprise due to the income it obtains from its activities related to its duties. Transactions made and papers prepared due to the activities of the Fund will be exempt from stamp duty and fees; donations and aids made to it will be exempt from inheritance and transfer tax; transactions related to the activities of the Fund will be exempt from banking and insurance transactions tax; and deductions to be made to the resource utilization support fund. Donations made to the Fund can be deducted from corporate income. All cash donations and aids made to the Fund can be deducted from the declared income or corporate income, provided that they are shown separately on the income or corporate tax return, in determining the income or corporate tax base. The Minister of Treasury and Finance will be authorized to allocate the external financing provided on behalf of the Republic of Turkey for zoning, infrastructure and superstructure works in areas declared as disaster zones affecting general life due to natural disasters, to the Disaster Reconstruction Fund without consideration. The Minister will also be authorized to allocate, without compensation, any external financing source that will be used exclusively for the same purpose by institutions and organizations that are outside the scope of the general budget and are included in the scope of this law, to the relevant institutions and organizations. The Minister will be authorized to add appropriations to the ministry budget in return for the amounts allocated within this scope.