European bank loans Turkish health sector amid pandemic

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on Wednesday provided a loan of €40 million ($47.5 million) to strengthen the Turkish healthcare sector.

According to a statement by EBRD, the long-term loan, of which €30 million was committed on signing, would be for the private developer of the Basaksehir Cam ve Sakura City Hospital on the outskirts of Istanbul.

The €1.6 billion hospital was built under a public-private partnership (PPP) in the Istanbul district of Basaksehir.

In response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, part of the new hospital complex opened in April to treat the rising number of COVID-19 patients in the country.

The hospital was developed and built by a joint venture between Turkey's Ronesans Healthcare and Japan's Sojitz Corporation.

"The EBRD funds will replace short-term loans from local banks that Ronesans Healthcare used to finance its equity contribution to the PPP project," the statement said.

So far in 2020, EBRD investments in Turkey have exceeded €1 billion.