Turkey Financial News

Posted by meb at March 28th, 2007

The production of motor vehicles increased by 15.6 percent, up to 153,000, in January and February, compared to the same period of the previous year.Automobile production itself increased by 26.7 percent for the same period, Turgay Durak, Ford Otosan general manager and chairman of the Automotive Industry Association (OSD) said. Durak added that the OSD goal for this year was to produce 1.1 million vehicles and export 800,000, with $16 billion in projected exports (more…)

Posted by meb at March 28th, 2007

Turkey’s construction boom is continuing, with the area and value of buildings and the number of dwelling units up by 9.6 percent, 31.4 percent and 4.1 percent respectively last year, according to recently released figures. The data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) also revealed that the actual number of new buildings in 2006 decreased by 5.4 percent compared to the preceding year, calculated on the basis of construction permits issued by municipalities.The number of new residential buildings fell from 99,220 to 94,309, but during the same period (more…)

Posted by meb at March 28th, 2007

Ties between Ukraine and Turkey look set to be strengthened in the wake of a free trade agreement between the two countries, according to Turkey’s state minister for foreign trade. Kürşad Tüzmen, speaking on Tuesday at the beginning of a Turkey-Ukraine Commercial and Economic Commission (TEİK) sixth period meeting, emphasized the need to complete procedures regarding the free trade agreement as soon as possible. Bilateral trade between Turkey and Ukraine has reached over $4 billion, noted Tüzmen.Tüzmen suggested establishing a (more…)

Posted by meb at March 28th, 2007

Turkey’s second-largest mobile phone operator Telsim will disappear on March 31, after which the company will be known only as Vodafone.
Telsim began operating in May 1994 and extended its mobile operating license for a further 25 years in 1998. Its subscribers exceeded 10 million in 2006 and the company held a 25 percent market share. Telsim was the first operator to give GPRS, MMS, MWS and push-to-talk services in Turkey. However, the company was seized by the Saving Deposits Insurance Fund (TMSF) because of the debts of (more…)

Posted by meb at March 28th, 2007

Several groups of Chinese businessmen from construction and procurement companies are headed to Turkey to seek ways to enhance trade relations.
Representatives of leading Chinese contracting companies are scheduled to have official meetings in Ankara with the ministries of public works and settlement and transportation as well as discussions with the Turkish Contractors’ Association and the Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade. A protocol of cooperation between the contractor associations of both countries is expected to be signed at the meetings. The group will leave for Turkey on March 30. Chief Counselor for (more…)

Posted by meb at March 28th, 2007

Turkey’s integration process with the world fashion industry is looking beyond Turkey’s past fame in custom-made and standard production fashion wear.

İstanbul Textile and Manufactured Clothing Exporters Union (İTKİB) President Süleyman Orakçıoğlu told an Anatolia news agency reporter last week that Turkey had a high-quality production infrastructure for textiles but that in order to benefit from this advantage, production had to be supported by a design spirit. Orakçıoğlu emphasized that Turkey had sufficient resources to achieve this (more…)

Posted by meb at March 27th, 2007

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline project, which will transport Caspian Sea oil to world markets, has already begun to bear fruit, earning Turkey over $400 million since its opening in July of last year.

Salih Paşaoğlu, general manager of Botaş International Limited (BIL), the Turkish Pipeline Company, said the target for 2007 is $1 billion from the pipeline and that the 2008 goal is 60 percent more. The target is to carry 1.6 (more…)

Posted by meb at March 26th, 2007

Turkey had a foreign trade deficit of 279,8 billion USD since January 1st 1996, the date when the “Customs Union” agreement came into effect.
Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) examined data from the Foreign Trade Secretariat, Turkish Customs, Turkish Statistical Institute and the official website of the EU “http://ec.europa.eu” and assessed effects of the “Customs Union” on Turkey which resulted in the “Customs Hunchback” report. (more…)