The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) invested a record €2.7 billion ($3.2 billion) last year in Türkiye, making it the bank's largest country of operation in terms of investments per year, the bank's managing director for Türkiye and the Caucasus told Anadolu.
Elisabetta Falcetti said several factors contributed to the strong investment performance, including a growing appetite in the Turkish private sector to invest, rising competitiveness of domestic firms, and support for the green transition.
She added that the development of human capital also contributed to the investment performance.
"And we've done this through several instruments," she said. "I was very happy to see the launch of the 'Youth in Business' program in Türkiye last year, which is a 250-million euro ($298.7-million) envelope that will be available to our partner financial institutions on lend to support the growth of SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises) that are either owned or managed by young entrepreneurs, and this is the twin program to our 'Women in Business' program, which we celebrated the (10th) anniversary last year."
"I would mention another important driver of our operations, that has been the continued support to the reconstruction in the earthquake-affected regions here in Türkiye — so, we announced back in 2023, after the devastating effect of the earthquake, a response package that focused on several pillars, including reconstruction of services and utility services provided by municipalities that have been affected by the earthquake, but also support to our private sector clients that operate in the region, And I'm pleased to announce that we have surpassed the initial €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) of earthquake response," she added.
Falcetti said the Turkish private sector's investment appetite remains very strong despite 2025 being a challenging year due to market volatility and external shocks affecting domestic firms, noting that 90% of the $3.2 billion investment went to private companies.
"I think this reflects the strong dynamism and the resilience of Turkish groups, but also small SMEs, because I think they've become quite resilient and have learned how to manage a time of crisis, so, despite all the turbulence, we have seen very strong activities in the private sector," she said.
Falcetti noted that the EBRD has cumulatively invested more than €23 billion ($27.4 billion) since it began operations in Türkiye in 2009.
"Our active portfolio at the moment is around €8 billion ($9.5 billion), of which more than 80% of the portfolio investments has gone to the private sector, so, in a nutshell, it (Türkiye) is a very important country for us," she said.
"We work with partner financial institutions here in Türkiye for on-lending for specific purposes, be it our Green Economic Financing Facility (GEFF), where last year we launched the third round of €1 billion ($1.1 billion) that will be available for the next three years, be it the Women in Business, Youth in Business, the Digital Transformation Financing Facility (DTFF) that supports SMEs digitalize and improve their productivity, or the sustainable Supply Chain Financing Facility which targets the SMEs that are part of a value chain of bigger groups and companies," she added.
-Earthquake response covers many projects in various areas
Falcetti said the EBRD's earthquake response package of $1.7 billion covers various areas and projects.
"Last year, for example, we lent a total of €195 million ($232.9 million) to two municipalities, Hatay and Adiyaman, that had been mostly affected by the earthquake in 2023, and this was to rebuild and expand their water/wastewater networks, but also the sewerage systems in the city," she said.
"We lent €45 million to Mersin municipality to again strengthen their wastewater systems — so, one block has been to work with municipalities to rebuild their infrastructures, (while) a second important driver of our earthquake response has been to work with the private sector."
Falcetti said one of the key loans provided last year was to energy distributor Enerjisa Energy, which operates in earthquake-affected regions. The financing supported the reconstruction of damaged networks and contributed to the transition to renewable energy.
"We stand behind the strong economic team that is operating right now in Türkiye — they have a very clear objective which is to focus on disinflation — and I think we have seen the results over the past two years, so, achieving macroeconomic stability is a very important factor that is important for investors when they look at the possibility of investing here in Türkiye, (in other words), having a stable and predictable business environment is fundamental," she said. "We have a new country strategy that sort of highlights our priorities in the countries, and these are, of course, also dictated by the priority of the government of Türkiye."
"The second important priority is to support human capital development, as I was mentioning, the Youth in Business and the Women in Business programs, for example," she added.
Falcetti said the EBRD places special emphasis on regional integration and connectivity, noting Türkiye's strategic geographical position linking Asia and Europe.
"We are looking at a number of projects, not only in transport, but also in energy — connecting Türkiye to Europe — and of course in the digital sphere, because I think there are a number of projects that are ongoing where again Türkiye will be a strong logistics and center for the digital and innovative economy," she said.
Falcetti said the EBRD expects Türkiye's economy to grow around 3.5% this year, with revised figures to be announced at the end of February.
She said Turkish industry and the financial system demonstrated resilience despite internal and external shocks last year.
"I'm very impressed by their ability to adapt and to adjust their strategies depending on the external operating environment, (and) I remain optimistic about the potential of the country, especially given the geopolitics and the fact that we have seen some important developments in neighboring countries where Turkish companies would, of course, have a natural advantage to participate in the reconstruction of the economies that are stabilizing," she said.
Falcetti said the EBRD plans to exceed last year's record investment level in 2026.
She mentioned the Türkiye Industrial Decarbonization Investment Platform program the EBRD launched with the Turkish Industry and Technology Ministry and the World Bank to contribute to the efforts of decarbonization in sectors where it is difficult to decarbonize.
"We have committed to invest up to $5 billion up to 2030 to help the decarbonization of four hard-to-abate industries — these are aluminum, cement, steel, and fertilizers — and we are committing also to look at other industries that are heavy users of fossil fuels and energy to help them green their activities and become more competitive, especially thinking about the export orientation towards markets that have introduced carbon markets," she added.
