World Bank, Turkish banks launch $201 mln energy efficiency project for SMEs

The World Bank said it has launched a $201 million (154 million euro) project with Turkish lenders Halkbank [BIST:HALKB], Vakifbank [BIST:VAKBN] and Ziraat Bank [BIST:TCZB] to support energy efficiency investments of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The project will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and thus benefits from a grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the World Bank said in a statement on its website earlier this week.

Under the project, the World Bank will extend credit lines of $67 million to each of the three Turkish banks to provide financing to SMEs and mid-cap companies that implement investments to improve the efficiency of their production thereby lowering their operating costs and enhancing their competitiveness.

The banks will also receive $900,000 each in GEF grant for technical assistance and risk sharing as the project will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The World Bank will also provide policy and technical assistance support of $940,000 to the General Directorate of Renewable Energy within the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey for policy and institutional development.

($ = 0.764 euro)

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