Turkey is set to secure nearly €1bn ($1.2bn, £800m) a year in extra foreign financing once the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development fully rolls out its funding programmes across the cash-strapped country.

Thomas Mirow,the EBRD president, announced on Tuesday that the bank, established to support the countries of the former Communist bloc, had decided to expand its activities to Turkey.

Mr Mirow told the FT that €150m of next year’s planned investments of €5.95bn would be earmarked for Turkey mainly for municipalities, small businesses and agribusiness. This would rise to €300m in 2010, with further increases later.

If Mr Mirow’s forecast is fulfilled, Turkey would become one of the EBRD’s largest countries of operation, behind Russia but roughly equal to Ukraine and Poland.

The EBRD’s move, which was long debated at the bank, comes as Turkey’s efforts to join the European Union have run into serious delays. Mr Mirow said that the bank’s decision was not directly linked to events at the EU but was connected to developing “a partnership between Europe and Turkey in the broader sense”.

Turkey also played a big role in countries of the EBRD’s operations, including the Balkans and the Caucasus, he said.