July 3 (SeeNews) - The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) said Friday it is lending $500 million (445 million euro) in total to Turkish development banks Turkiye Kalkinma ve Yatirim Bankasi, or TKYB [IST:KLNMA], and Turkiye Sinai Kalkinma Bankasi AS, or TSKB [IST:TSKB], to improve the liquidity of Turkish firms during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The funding will be on-lent to companies and small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) in infrastructure and other productive sectors with the aim to help the firms pay operating expenses, short-term assets and liabilities during the crisis, AIIB said in a statement.
Some $300 million of the funding will be provided to TKYB for on-lending to SMEs through partner financial institutions, whereas the remaining $200 million will be extended to TSKB for direct on-lending.
The funding is under the guarantee of the Turkish government.
The bank is providing the loans as part of its COVID-19 Crisis Recovery Facility (CRF), aimed to support AIIB member's urgent economic, financial and public health financing needs during the coronavirus crisis. AIIB will provide up to $10 billion in loans under the initial plan.
($ = 0.8899 euro)