The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will provide a 20 billion yen (approximately $139.3 million) loan to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) impacted by a pair of powerful earthquakes that struck southern Türkiye on Feb. 6, a senior official said Wednesday.

The financing deal was signed between JICA and Türkiye's Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization (KOSGEB), Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır said in a post on the X platform, formerly Twitter.

New financing will be provided to SMEs in earthquake zones as part of the Post-Earthquake Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Recovery Project, which was launched in November in collaboration with the World Bank.

Quake-hit SMEs will benefit from a loan with a 36-month maturity, a payment grace period for the first 24 months and interest-free three equal installments for the remaining 12 months, Kacır said.

As part of the project, a total of TL 12.8 billion (about $439.4 million) in financing has been provided for 39,680 SMEs so far, he stressed.

Two powerful earthquakes hit 11 provinces in southern Türkiye on Feb. 6, causing extensive damage and killing and injuring tens of thousands of people.

The quake-hit region was home to more than 470,000 private enterprises, of which 99% are micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).