Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek gave the preliminary results of the program at a press conference on Monday. According to the data shared by the minister, the program, which started in November 2008 and expired in March 2009, but was extended for another term starting from June to the end of 2009, brought back TL 47.3 billion.
Of this amount, TL 26.95 billion came from outside the country and TL 20.35 billion internally. Revenues Administration (GİB) officials pointed out that this amount might climb to some TL 50 billion, but final results will be known only after Jan. 15, when banks are expected to release their financial statements to the GİB.
The program allowed Turkish citizens to put their cash holdings in the Turkish banking system, with a 2 percent tax for those who live abroad and a 5 percent tax for those who reside in Turkey. The Finance Ministry earned TL 1.56 billion in tax revenue, of which TL 539.63 million has been collected, with the remaining scheduled to be received within a month.
Şimşek said the first term of the program, which was in effect between Nov. 22, 2008 and March 2, 2009, returned TL 14.83 billion to the country. TL 10.75 billion of this amount came from outside the country and the remaining from inside, the minister added. The success of the program encouraged the government to extend the program for a second term on June 10 until the end of the year. He said that during this time the program brought in TL 32.47 billion in funds, of which TL 16.2 billion was from abroad. The amount of money returned in the last week of the program reached some TL 20 billion, in line with the first term of wealth amnesty, which attracted nearly TL 8 billion just on the last day of its term.
Of the money returned to Turkey under the wealth amnesty, 50.4 percent was in foreign currency, Şimşek said, while 29.6 percent was in lira, 7 percent was in gold, 6.6 percent was in securities and 6.4 percent was in fixed assets. Approximately 64,000 applications were received for the program, with a per capita amount of TL 740,000 in savings.
Asked about the impact of the money brought in Turkey under the wealth amnesty on a possible stand-by deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Şimşek stated: “The wealth amnesty was implemented to ease, at least somewhat, the impact of the global economic downturn. And it has been successful. It is an additional fund, additional capital to Turkey. Turkey’s relations with the IMF are not confined to funds scarcity alone.”
