BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 16. The World Bank
Board on Thursday approved the Access to Finance for Jobs and
Growth Project in Türkiye, a program aimed at expanding access to
finance for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and
supporting job creation, with a particular focus on women and
youth, Trend
reports via the World Bank.
Implemented in partnership with Türkiye Vakıflar Bankası T.A.O.
(VakıfBank), the project will use a EUR 750 million (US$867.8
million) IBRD guarantee under the World Bank Group Guarantee
Platform to mobilize up to EUR 1.5 billion in 10-year commercial
financing from international lenders.
The guarantee will provide sub-loans to roughly 30,000 MSMEs,
including 15,000 women-led and 1,000 youth-led firms, through three
financing windows supporting women and youth entrepreneurship,
sectoral access to finance, and resilience in underdeveloped and
disaster-affected regions. Performance-based incentives will reward
firms that hire and retain employees—especially women and youth—and
adopt digital financial services to expand financial access. The
project is expected to create, directly and indirectly, up to
800,000 new or better-quality jobs.
The Türkiye project is part of the Access to Finance for Jobs
and Growth (FINGROW) Program, a $4 billion World Bank Group
regional initiative to improve financial access for businesses
across Europe and Central Asia, foster private sector growth, and
create 3.5 million jobs. Türkiye and Uzbekistan are the first
countries in the region to benefit from the program.
