The European Commission has organised a “European Union (EU) Finance day for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)” to present new financing opportunities for businesses on 17 March in Ankara.

The European Investment Fund (EIF) and Turkey’s Credit Guarantee Fund (KGF) has signed a guarantee agreement under the EU’s Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP), which will give Turkish businesses access to bank loans for up to € 90 million. This EIF counter-guarantee agreement is the first one to be signed in Turkey under CIP. This new approach to financing - the “One SME in every village” initiative, aims to bring enhanced access to finance for businesses in 3,000 Turkish villages across the country.

EIF signed a second guarantee agreement today, with Finansbank, a leading private bank in Turkey. The agreement aims at creating a loan volume of € 135.25 million for SMEs and € 71.2 million for microcredits in Turkey, by providing a maximum guarantee of € 10.7 million from the EU sources through the EIF.

The EU has developed a Crisis Response Package for the Western Balkans and Turkey with a view to contributing to the stabilisation of financial markets and economies in the region. The European Commission recently signed agreements with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), which will create two loan facilities for Turkey. These facilities will address SMEs’ needs of access to finance while promoting private sector investments in the field of energy efficiency. The indicative budget of the Crisis Response Package – Turkey window will be € 422 million.

EU Finance Day for SMEs is a series of events in the Member States and candidate countries that the European Commission organises to inform about the EU financial instruments available for SMEs, together with the national financial intermediaries that implement these instruments locally. The aim is to raise awareness about different sources of finance and provide a forum for sharing good practices in helping SMEs get easier access to finance.

Further information about the event is available at www.sme-finance-day.eu. For CIP in Turkey, you may visit www.sanayi.gov.tr/webedit/gozlem.aspx?sayfaNo=3782.

For further information, please contact the Delegation:
Mr. Güray Vural, Sector Manager, E-mail: guray.vural@ec.europa.eu