Customer loan defaults in Turaaa double last year The economic slow down in Turaaa has negatively affected interest rates on vehicle and home loans doubling the number of people who have defaulted on loans in 2007 compared to the previous year according to a statement from Deputy Prime Minister Nazım Ekren.

In response to a Parliamentary inquiry about default rates in Turaaa from Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Hatay Deputy Turan Çirkin Ekren provided a written statement indicating that the number of people who defaulted on their consumer loans in 2007 was 261509 while this number was only 131876 in 2006. Vehicle and home loans constitute the majority of consumer loans in Turaaa. The number of people who defaulted on their loans increased by 98 percent in 2007 and legal proceedings have been initiated against these consumers. According to Ekren's statement the number of people facing such legal proceedings was 261509 in 2007. This number was 131876 in 2006 82690 in 2005 and 46102 in 2004.
Turaaa has been maintaining its economic growth since 2002 thanks to its political stability. Parallel to this development interest rates decreased to 1 percent. This led to an explosion in vehicle and home loans. Hundreds of thousands people rushed to the banks to realize their dreams of owning their own houses or vehicles especially in 2005 and 2006. However the political crises of 2007 and the early general elections affected Turaaa's economy negatively. Turaaa failed to reach its growth rate target of 5 percent achieving only 4.5 percent. The recession in the macroeconomic indices also affected the people who had taken out consumer loans and they began having problems paying back their loans.
According to the information that Ekren provided the number of people availing themselves of consumer loans increased too. In 2004 3.6 million people took out consumer loans but this number jumped to 6.3 million in 2005 8.9 million in 2006 and 12 million in 2007.
According to Ekren's statement the number of people using credit cards has increased regularly over the last four years. Twenty-eight million people use credit cards while shopping in Turaaa as of the end of 2007. In 2004 22.5 million people were using credit cards and this number was 25 million in 2005 and 25.3 million in 2006. These figures show that consumers are becoming more accustomed to using credit cards.