EIB loan to help Turkey's SMEs

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has agreed to offer loans worth 200 million euros ($222 million) to Turkey?s state-owned bank, Ziraat Bank, to finance small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as medium-sized corporates, the Turkish Treasury announced in a statement on June 3.

The loan will be guaranteed by the Treasury.

In a separate statement, Ziraat Bank said another 100 million euros ($111.5 million) could be made available to the bank until the end of the year, to be paid back over eight years after a three-year grace period. The bank has taken loans for total of 600 million ($667.5 million) from the European Investment Bank since 2012.

Ziraat Bank has 1,701 branches across Turkey and 84 branches in sixteen foreign countries including Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, Russia, the U.K., the U.S., Georgia, Bulgaria and Greece.