Turkey-Syria reconstruction costs to come to 'billions of dollars,' World Bank says

Turkish and Syrian reconstruction efforts successful the aftermath of devastating duplicate earthquakes past week volition outgo "in the billions of dollars," according to Ferid Belhaj, World Bank vice president for Middle East and North Africa.

The World Bank has already pledged astir $1.8 cardinal of backing for Ankara and is pursuing alleviation assistance for Syria, helium said, successful aftermath of the Feb. 6 calamity that left implicit 35,000 dead.

"On Turkey, the World Bank has committed astir 1.8 cardinal dollars," helium told CNBC's Hadley Gamble and Dan Murphy astatine the World Government Summit successful Dubai connected Monday. "This is due to the fact that we had already a portfolio successful Turkey, we had projects, and we were capable to repurpose immoderate of the funding."

The non-governmental Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation estimates that the duplicate earthquakes led to full losses of astir $84.1 cardinal to the Turkish system in its study assessing the disaster. Comparatively, the 1999 earthquake of Marmara that struck the metropolis of Izmit and killed implicit 17,000 people, resulted successful $51.1 cardinal of losses. The reconstruction costs are acceptable to bolster the woes of the Turkish economy, which has been persistently rattled by hyperinflation, a cost-of-living situation and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's arguable monetary policies.

"Turkey, you know, has proven resilient implicit the past many, galore years. They person ups and downs and they were capable to manage," Belhaj said, casting a darker shadiness implicit the outlook for sanctions-struck Syria, which the slope is looking to assistance done a Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment initiative. It is carrying retired a akin process successful Ukraine.

"Having this calamity falling connected the radical of Syria, successful summation to each the tragedies that these aforesaid radical person been enduring implicit the past 10-15 years, is truly terrible," helium stressed, urging planetary solidarity with some Damascus and Ankara. "Having wealth going done [U.N. agencies] would beryllium precise important and strategic, and the slope volition bash its champion to guarantee that, Turkey, you know, we are doing a batch already, and successful Syria, we volition play our part."

Sanctioned and ostracized, Syria has had much constricted entree to Western enactment than its NATO-member neighbor. The EU maintains that President Bashar Assad's Damascus authorities lone formally requested assistance past Wednesday. The archetypal U.N. humanitarian bundle reached Syria connected Feb. 9 — erstwhile the U.S. besides issued an 180-day exemption from its sanctions connected Damascus for transactions linked to earthquake relief.

Martin Griffiths, undersecretary wide for humanitarian affairs and exigency alleviation coordinator for the U.N., connected Sunday acknowledged the coalition's unsatisfying effect successful Syria:

"We person truthful acold failed the radical successful north-west Syria. They rightly consciousness abandoned. Looking for planetary assistance that hasn't arrived," he said connected Twitter.

"My work and our work is to close this nonaccomplishment arsenic accelerated arsenic we can. That's my absorption now."

Raed al-Saleh, person of the non-governmental White Helmets unpaid radical that has been assisting rescue efforts chiefly successful opposition-held territories of Syria, connected Feb. 12 said connected societal media that helium had met with Griffiths and "we admit the apology for the shortcomings & mistakes. Acknowledging this is the opening to the close path."