Do subsidized export credits affect firms’ behavior in the FX market? Micro evidence from Türkiye

Through its export-led growth strategy, Türkiye intends to increase its exports by subsidizing exporters via a rediscount credit scheme, a form of subsidized export credit, that is mostly financed by the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT). This paper aims to investigate whether benefiting from such cost-effective financial support causes unintended consequences by focusing on the foreign exchange purchases of treated firms. Using firm-level data and a propensity score matching (PSM) difference-in-differences (DD) estimator, we find evidence of a positive and significant impact of using rediscount credits on the net FX purchases of treated firms. Furthermore, we find that being a net importer increases the sensitivity of net FX purchases to the use of rediscount credit. We also show that the impact of using rediscount credits on net FX purchases is higher in SMEs than in large firms.