European Investment Bank to loan Turkish firms more than 800 million euros

ISTANBUL - Reuters

European Investment Bank (EIB) officials were set to sign seven loan agreements totaling more than 800 million euros for Turkish companies during a visit to Istanbul this week, the bank said in a statement May 5.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will attract the largest portion of the new funding while other loans will support healthcare and port infrastructure projects, the bank said.

According to the statement, the EIB will provide a total of 700 million euros of loans to five lenders and SMEs.

In line with a deal with Akbank, 50 million euros will be provided to be used for a hospital project in Ankara. An 80 million-euro loan will also be given to Petkim to be used in increasing the capacity of the Petkim port in global container terminal standards.

A high-level delegation headed by EIB Vice President Pim van Ballekom is scheduled to visit Turkey on May 5-6.

According to data from the statement, the EIB increased its loans to Turkey by 12 percent to 2.3 billion euros in 2015 over the previous year.