BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 2. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a US$130 million (€112.4 million) financing package to Türkiye’s Akbank to strengthen support for inclusive growth and digital investment among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the country, Trend reports via the Bank.
The package consists of three components under the EBRD’s dedicated financing programmes: a loan of up to US$70 million (€60.5 million) for on-lending to women-led SMEs under the Türkiye Women in Business II programme; a loan of up to US$50 million (€43.2 million) for youth-led SMEs through the Youth in Business programme; and a US$10 million (€8.6 million) loan to support digital transformation projects by Turkish manufacturing SMEs under the Türkiye Digital Transformation Financing Facility.
The transaction is backed by first-loss risk coverage provided by the European Union via its European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+) Growth4All guarantee, as well as the Turkish Ministry of Treasury and Finance through KOSGEB and the Credit Guarantee Fund (KGF).
The EBRD remains one of Türkiye’s largest institutional investors, with more than €23 billion committed across 502 projects since 2009, predominantly in the private sector.