Turkey signs $400M loan agreement with World Bank

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's Treasury announced on Monday the World Bank has lent a 350.9 million euro ($400 million) loan to Turkey, under the Resilience, Inclusion and Growth Development Policy Financing (RIG-DPF) program.

The loan agreement is signed to support Turkey’s efforts to increase domestic savings, enhance economic participation among vulnerable groups, and address structural bottlenecks to ensure sustainable growth, the Treasury said.

It noted that the total maturity of the loan was 10 years including a grace period of three-and-a-half years.

According to the World Bank, the policies, strategies, and reform actions supported under the program center on three strategic outcomes.

"The first pillar aims to increase domestic savings to help address external imbalances and reduce fiscal risks," the bank said in a press release.

"The second pillar aims to support participation of women, youth, long-term unemployed, and Syrians under temporary protection in the labor market," it stated.

"The third pillar aims to remove structural bottlenecks to sustainable growth," the bank said, adding that this would be achieved by enacting an appropriate legal framework for the protection of industrial property.

The World Bank also said that removing structural bottlenecks would be achieved by improving allocation of capital, by facilitating access to credit for small and medium enterprises, and deregulating network industries through the liberalization of the railways sector.