EBRD extends $109m loan for Turkey’s quake-hit region

EBRD

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide $109 million to Turkey’s largest private bank to lend to businesses and individuals affected by earthquakes that devastated the country’s south-eastern region in February.

The loan is part of the bank’s Turkey disaster response framework, launched in the aftermath of the earthquakes, which caused over 50,000 fatalities and more than $100 billion in damage to the country’s economy.

The proceeds of the loan to Turkiye İş Bankası (İşbank) will be used to fix some of the damage to the region’s economy and will address the most immediate funding needs of the local population in those cities, bringing financial relief to the region’s private sector.

The EBRD previously announced a €1.5 billion ($1.65 billion) two-year investment plan for the region to lessen the economic impact of the disaster.

Arthur Poghosyan, EBRD deputy head of Turkey, financial institutions, said: “Our rapid progress in transactions under the Turkey disaster response framework is vital to the recovery and reconstruction of the region. We are confident that as our long-standing partner, İşbank will disburse these funds efficiently to those in need of financial relief while they are recovering their economic well-being.”

The €600 million disaster response framework, the first to be deployed in the EBRD regions, strives to provide support for companies and individuals affected by the disaster, as well as new lending for companies participating in recovery and reconstruction efforts in the area, strengthening the private sector’s role in disaster response.

EBRD has allocated close to $350 million under this framework to date.

Overall, the European development bank has invested more than €18 billion in various sectors of the Turkish economy, largely in the private sector.