Daily Sabah (Turkey)

EBRD to extend over $32M for quake regions

- ISTANBUL / DAILY SABAH WITH AGENCIES

A EUROPEAN developmen­t bank yesterday announced it would provide about 30 million euros ($32.5 million) in long-term financing to Türkiye’s Rönesans Gayrimenku­l Yatırım (RGY) to support regions affected by last year’s devastatin­g earthquake­s.

The European Bank for Reconstruc­tion and Developmen­t (EBRD) loan will be extended to the subsidiary of Türkiye’s Rönesans Holding that deals with commercial real estate developmen­t and investment, the company said in a statement.

It said the funds would be used to support the capex of two shopping centers in the southeaste­rn provinces of Kahramanma­raş and Şanlıurfa that were struck by the February 2023 earthquake­s. The loan will be backed by a guarantee from the European Union.

The financing will also help to support businesses and livelihood­s in the region, which faces labor shortages following migration from the area after the disaster, the statement said.

In the weeks that followed the earthquake­s, the EBRD announced a two-year response package worth 1.5 billion euros. The package includes credit lines to individual­s and companies, as well as infrastruc­ture investment­s and support for small and medium-sized enterprise­s and privatesec­tor partnershi­ps.

The bank says more than half of the investment package has already been made available to companies and individual­s in the region.

Jürgen Rigterink, first vice president and head of the Client Services Group of the EBRD, said: “I was shocked and saddened to see during my visit the devastatin­g impact the earthquake­s have had on the affected region, and I continue to be inspired by the resilience and determinat­ion of the local population here.”

“Reconstruc­tion is a long process and can take many years, but it begins by allowing the private sector to regain its vibrant potential. I am proud to say that we have already made available more than half of our initial 1.5 euros billion investment response, and we will continue to stand with Türkiye on its path to recovery by supporting projects that preserve the livelihood­s of the region,” Rigterink said.

On Tuesday, the Turkish Treasury and the EBRD signed a memorandum of understand­ing for 500 million euro financing to support efforts to revive the earthquake region.

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