Turkey postpones farmers' loans for 6 months amid virus

ISTANBUL Turkey provided interest-free six-month postponement for farmers' loans amid the coronavirus pandemic, the treasury and finance minister announced on Tuesday. "Thus, we offer our farmers the opportunity to postpone approximately 6 billion Turkish liras ($858.1 million) debt," Berat Albayrak said on Twitter. He said for the past 18 years, the government has always stood by farmers, and mobilized its possibilities. Today, the government backs farmers again against the COVID-19's effects, he added. The country also supports several sectors and citizens with salary payments, tax postponement or discounts and loans with low interest rate. After originating in China last December, COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has spread to at least 185 countries and regions across the world. Europe and the US are currently the worst-hit. The pandemic has killed more than 211,500 people worldwide, with the total number of infections exceeding 3.05 million, while at least 897,000 have recovered from the disease, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University in the US. The virus infected 112,261 people in Turkey so far, and killed 2,900 people, according to the latest official data on Monday.