Public sector savings package passed through Parliament

The bill on savings measures in the public sector was accepted by the TBMM General Assembly. The bill will enter into force on January 1 The Bill on Amendments to Certain Laws and Decree Laws containing regulations on savings measures in the public sector was accepted by the TBMM General Assembly and became law. Accordingly, the Privatization Administration is authorized to sell the vehicles and construction equipment defined in the Highway Traffic Law and such vehicles and construction equipment transferred to the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change in a holistic and rapid manner on behalf of the administrations, within the framework of the principles and procedures to be determined. Sales will be made through open tender and/or e-tender methods. With the amendment to be made to the Stamp Duty Law, investment contracts signed between the Minister of Industry and Technology and investors and containing provisions regarding investment incentives will be exempted from stamp duty similar to those applied pursuant to investment incentive certificates. In order for BOTAŞ’s cash management to be carried out in a healthy manner, the company’s unpaid taxes, funds and shares, administrative fines, related delay interest and default interests arising from natural gas imports will be offset against the assignment fee receivables from the Treasury. Any natural gas purchases to be made by BOTAŞ will be exempted from the Public Procurement Law. It is intended that BOTAŞ will benefit from the exemptions provided to the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) in a way that will also cover its affiliated companies. Accordingly, with the amendment made to the Public Procurement Law, the monetary limit determined in the “exceptions” provision of the law will not be applied to any purchases of goods and services and construction works to be made by TPAO, BOTAŞ and their affiliated companies and the companies they established abroad regarding oil and natural gas exploration, drilling, production, transportation, storage and gasification activities. The Minister of Treasury and Finance will be authorized to provide Treasury repayment guarantees for external financing to be provided by the Turkish-Japanese University of Science and Technology, which was established by the Law on the Establishment of the Turkish-Japanese University of Science and Technology, from the Japanese government or Japanese country organizations without taking part in the investment program on its behalf. The Minister of Treasury and Finance is authorized to issue special issue government domestic debt securities on loan to the Turkish Wealth Fund Management Corporation Market Stability and Balance Sub-Fund in the 2024 fiscal year in order to strengthen the capital of public banks. The SCT rates are determined separately according to the engine cylinder volume and tax base thresholds of hybrid electric vehicles that can only be charged from outside the vehicle (plug-in) and whose weighted combined carbon dioxide emission per kilometer is below 25 grams and whose range that can be covered with equivalent electric energy is 70 kilometers or more, and whose engine cylinder volume does not exceed 1800 cubic centimeters. It is regulated that the resource transfers related to the investments to be made by ministries and other central administration institutions through provincial special administrations will be made based on the progress reports of the relevant work, excluding advance payments. The appropriations related to the works to be carried out through the provincial special administrations will be monitored in separate items in the budgets of public institutions and organizations, and transfers from these appropriations to other items will not be possible and will not be used for other purposes. Unspent portions of the appropriations included in the appropriations can be recorded as transferable appropriations in the following year’s budget. With the regulation, the capital ceiling of the Bank of Provinces will be increased from 9 billion to 60 billion liras. Those who serve as members of the board of directors, audit board, liquidation board, advisory board and in commissions, boards, committees and similar bodies of institutions and organizations of all statuses, regardless of whether they are private or public, will be paid a fee for only one of these duties, regardless of whether they are internal or external to the institution. The total net amount of payments that can be made in a month, regardless of the name of the payment such as attendance fee, wage, bonus, etc. due to the duties performed, will not exceed the amount found by multiplying the 108 thousand indicator figure with the civil servant monthly coefficient.