Turkey is establishing a fund to rebuild areas devastated by last month’s earthquakes, which would sit outside the regular budget and allow the government to act without having to abide by fiscal rules.
(Bloomberg) —
Turkey is establishing a fund to rebuild areas devastated by last month’s earthquakes, which would sit outside the regular budget and allow the government to act without having to abide by fiscal rules.
Policy makers will channel quake donations into the new fund and may tap debt markets to raise more capital if needed, an official familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified as the plans have yet to be made public.
The fund will be officially established with a government-backed bill at the parliament within days, the official said. Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati will be in charge and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will have the final say on the amount of money transferred from government coffers and how it’s used, according to the official. The Treasury and Finance Ministry declined to comment.
The plan allows more flexibility in funding the rebuilding efforts in 11 cities affected by the Feb. 6 quakes. Erdogan has promised to build more than 400,000 homes in the quake zone within a year. The World Bank Group put the minimum reconstruction cost at $35 billion, roughly the size of the 2023 budget deficit predicted by the government before the quakes. An international donors’ conference is set to take place in Brussels on March 16 to collect funds.
–With assistance from Beril Akman.
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