The European Investment Bank (EIB) and ILBANK signed a grant agreement for EUR 8.5 million. The agreement signed by the EIB as manager of the Municipal Finance Facility (“MFF”) will allow ILBANK and its municipal customers to benefit from grants of the European Commission (EC), aiming at developing bank lending to municipalities in Turkey.
The grant will be combined with the EUR 150 million EIB loan facility already in place with ILBANK for the financing of municipal investment schemes in the water, waste water and solid waste sector.
The grant will enhance further the fine conditions of the EIB loans, which are characterised by long maturities, as well as a wide range of interest and currencies options for the benefit of the municipal investments.
The Commission’s grant resources shall reinforce the institutional capacity of ILBANK by further strengthening its in-house technical expertise and project screening capacity, for closing the gap between the national and the European Union environmental and tendering requirements. Additionally, it will improve the affordability of the environmental investments of the municipalities with a grant element covering the project preparation cost and related technical studies of the investments.
This agreement is an excellent example of the strong support provided by the European Union to priority investments in the municipal sector in Turkey based on the judicious blend of grants and long-term loans.