December 22 (SeeNews) - The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) said on Thursday it has lent 15 million euro ($15.7 million) to Halkbank Skopje to support Macedonia's private housing sector and micro and small enterprises (MSEs).
EFSE provided a 10 million euro loan for housing and 5 million euro loan for MSEs, EFSE said in a statement.
"These loans are in line with the mission of Halkbank to provide banking services that will support long-term and sustainable development of the private sector with home improvement projects customized for the Macedonian retail market", Turhan Ademi, Acting Chief Executive Director of Halkbank Skopje, said.
EFSE was set up by Germany's development bank KfW with the financial support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Commission to foster economic growth in Eastern Europe.
Halkbank Skopje, the Macedonian subsidiary of Turkey's Halkbank, was established in 1993. It has 36 branches in Macedonia. The overall net growth of lending to Macedonian companies and citizens in 2015 was 392 million euro, where Halkbank had a leading share of 15.2%, or 59.8 million euro in nominal terms.
($=0.9576 euro)