Turkey secures $4 billion in international funding for earthquake recovery

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Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek announced on August 31 that the ministry continues to secure low-cost funding from international organizations to reconstruct the region affected by the February 6 Maraş earthquakes.

Şimşek said that the Ministry of Finance secured about four billion dollars in external resources for earthquake financing in 2023 and 2024, and negotiations were underway to secure an additional two billion by the end of this year.

“Our efforts to obtain favorable external resources from financial institutions for the development of the region affected by the earthquake and our country will continue,” said the minister.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank recently provided approximately 187 million euros in long-term financing at below-market interest rates to Turkey’s General Directorate of Highways to finance the repair and improvement of roads, tunnels and bridges damaged by the earthquake.

Şimşek also noted ongoing efforts to secure 100 million dollars from the Islamic Development Bank for Turkish Eximbank to support the financing of exporters in the earthquake zone and their green transitions. Another 100 million dollars was secured by the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation for the Development and Investment Bank of Türkiye to support international trade for businesses affected by the earthquake, and 50 million dollars was provided to the Industrial Development Bank of Türkiye.

Şimşek emphasized that cooperation with international financial institutions would continue, stating, “These resources are a sign of confidence in the program we are implementing.”

On the first anniversary of the earthquakes, the European Commission signed a 400 million euro ($430 million) aid agreement to support Turkey’s recovery.

A recent report by the Public Expenditure Monitoring Platform (KAHİP) analyzed the distribution of disaster budgets within Turkish metropolitan municipalities.

The report found that local governments are prioritizing spending on disaster response measures while allocating insufficient resources to reduce risk, and noted that urban transformation requires collaboration between central and local governments.

Now more than 1,5 years after the earthquakes, infrastructure remains insufficient for the survivors, some of whom still live in temporary living units and experience a shortage of drinking water, limited access to health care and education, and frequent flooding during the winter months.