The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will provide a USD 25m loan to Garanti BBVA Leasing, the financial leasing arm of Garanti BBVA, to be used by eligible SMEs for investments in sustainability, according to a statement from the EBRD.
This new loan has been distributed under the third phase of the Turkey Sustainable Energy Financing Facility (TurSEFF), backed by a technical collaboration funded by the European Union and the Turkish Ministry of Treasury and Finance. The TurSEFF program provides EUR 400m in total investment to commercial banks and leasing companies to lend to SMEs in the private and public sectors to be put towards sustainable energy investments.
This new round of funding for Garanti BBVA Leasing comes in the wake of a previous EBRD loan worth TRY 270.5m (some EUR 50m) which has been fully utilized, benefiting almost 600 companies. Investments from the last loan included projects for energy and water efficiency, waste minimization, and small-scaled renewable energy generation.
The EBRD has invested more than EUR 14bn in Turkey via 351 projects, 95% of which have been in the private sector.
