'Turkey's dynamic private sector encouraging for EBRD'

By Gokhan Kurtaran

LONDON (AA) - The fact that Turkish private sector is “very dynamic” encourages the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to invest in Turkey, according to the bank’s president.

"It's a country that has very vibrant private activity, which opens up a lot of opportunities for the EBRD to intervene, to encourage the private sector to bring in money to be greener," Odile Renaud-Basso told Anadolu Agency.

Highlighting that the bank investments are project-driven, Renaud-Basso said: “We do not have a country-based investment target. Our expectation is remaining around the same, between €1-1.5 billion ($1.2-1.8 billion) this year."

Last year, Turkey was the leading recipient of the EBRD investments, she said, adding the bank provided financing of €1.7 billion ($2 billion) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The bank made record investments worth €11 billion in 2020 through 411 projects across three dozen economies.

The EBRD is a major investor in Turkey and since 2009, the bank has invested more than €13 billion in the country through 339 projects, 93% of which is in the private sector.