Türkiye secured around 2.5 billion euros (nearly $3 billion) in financing from the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) for its public sector projects and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over the last 10 years, the Treasury and Finance Ministry stated in a press release.
Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek met with CEB Governor Carlo Monticelli during his visit to Türkiye from Feb. 10 to 12, according to the statement.
Monticelli’s visit, marking his first official trip to the country, saw the signing of new deals worth €280 million ($332.5 million) in concessional financing for hospital and transportation investments.
Some 230 million euros ($273.1 million) of the total was signed for the Istanbul Seismic Mitigation and Preparedness Project (ISMEP) and the remaining 50 million euros ($59.3 million) will go to support the Marmaray project to be carried out by the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry.
The CEB’s support has been pivotal in the infrastructure resilience efforts of Türkiye, especially after the devastating earthquakes on Feb. 6, 2023, in the country’s southeast.
Türkiye, a founding member of the bank since its establishment in 1956, has received over $3 billion from the CEB over the last decade, with funding largely targeting earthquake preparedness, post-disaster recovery and SME financing.
