World Bank Loans Turkey €600 Mln to Reduce Carbon Emissions

The World Bank announced its approval of a €600 million loan (about $650 million) to assist Turkish exporters in reducing carbon emissions from their production processes.

In a statement released Thursday evening, the bank detailed that the "Turkish Green Export" project aims to provide long-term, affordable financing for exporters to invest in green solutions, including the modernization of machinery, equipment, and heating and cooling systems.

Bloomberg highlighted that Turkish export companies employ around 73% of the country's workforce.

Concurrent with the World Bank's support, data from the Central Bank of Turkey on Friday showed an increase in business confidence in the Turkish manufacturing sector to 101.5 points in February, up from 100.9 points in January.

A score of 100 or above on the index indicates optimism, while below 100 suggests declining confidence.

Meanwhile, the Official Gazette of Turkey reported that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has dismissed a deputy general manager at the General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration and three deputy general managers at the General Directorate of Mining Affairs through a presidential decree.

Erdogan appointed a new deputy general manager at the General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration and a new deputy general manager at the General Directorate of Mining Affairs. 

He also named Ahmet Turkoglu as the chairman and general manager of the state oil company "TPAO."

Earlier this month, nine people died after being trapped for over a day due to a landslide at a gold mine in eastern Turkey.

In 2022, an explosion at a coal mine in northern Turkey resulted in the death of 41 workers.

In other news, data from the Turkish Ministry of Tourism on Friday showed that the number of foreign visitors arriving in the country increased to 2.05 million in January, compared to two million foreign visitors in the same month in 2023, and 1.28 million in January 2022.