ISTANBUL - The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending a total of 350 million euro for private sector support and for earthquake reconstruction in the regions devastated by the disaster of August 1999.
The documentation was signed in a ceremony held at the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, State Minister Ali Babacan and EIB Chairman Philippe Maystadt attended the ceremony which was closed to press.
200 million euro, in the form of global loans, will initially be channeled through the EIB's well-established Turkish partner banks, the Industrial Development Bank of Turkey (TSKB) and the Turkiye Vakiflar Bankasi (Vakifbank) to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the areas of industry, services and tourism. Other Turkish partner banks may be added in due course.
This global loan, a follow up to the EIB's previous industrial sector global loan of 125 million euro signed in 2001, aims at serving the private sector's long-term financing needs which, based on the success of the EIB's recent global loan facilities in Turkey, is clearly much needed. It underlines the continuing commitment of the EIB to assist in the long-term development of the country.
150 million euro goes to the Turkish government to support priority rehabilitation and reconstruction works in the regions devastated by the earthquakes in Turkey in 1999.
This is the final tranche of a 600 million euro EIB facility, the ''Turkish Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Assistance'' (TERRA), approved in 1999 in support of 1.5 billion euro reconstruction project established by the Turkish government. The EIB participates in this project, in cooperation with other multilateral financing institutions, including World Bank and Council of Europe Development Bank.
(MS) 02.04.2003