Posted by meb at March 31st, 2008
Turkish Airlines (THY) President and CEO Temel Kotil has said that in March 2008 its number of international passengers exceeded the number of passengers on domestic routes for the first time.
Kotil stated that in March the average number of passengers every week topped 370,000, further noting that more than 60 percent of total revenue was derived from international flights. (more…)
Posted by meb at March 31st, 2008
Turkey’s growth rate was 4.5 percent in 2007 and 3.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007, Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) announced on Monday. Growth rate target of the government was 5 percent.
According to TUIK, gross domestic product (GDP) rose 12.9 percent to 856.387 billion YTL (or 25.1 percent to 658.786 billion USD) on basis of current prices. (more…)
Posted by meb at March 31st, 2008
A tender for the privatization of Turkey’s national lottery is expected for May or may be June, as major international lottery operators as well as national firms are expressing willingness for the lucrative business, sources have said.
International lottery operators such as British Camelot, Greek Opap and Intralot, Italian Lottomatica, Austrian Osterreichische as well as Turkey’s Koc, Sabanci, Dogan, Cukurova and Dogus groups are wiling to engage in the auction. (more…)
Posted by meb at March 29th, 2008
Turkish President Abdullah Gul has said that his country is in the process of negotiating a free trade agreement with all the Gulf States, including UAE.
In an exclusive interview with the Dubai-based English Daily Khaleej Times, Turkey’s President also said that Turkey attaches great importance to the security and stability of the region. But he called for using dialogue rather than force to solve problems. (more…)
Posted by meb at March 29th, 2008
Despite all obstacles faced since the outset of petrochemicals giant Petkim’s privatization, the fate of the company will be sealed soon. The handover of Petkim’s 51 percent public shares to Socar-Turcas-Injaz Joint Venture Group is expected occur by May 7.
Following the handover, Petkim will begin to play a very positive role in Turkish economy, said Erdal Aksoy, chairman of Turcas Petroleum, the Turkish partner of Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Petkim will also have a very important function for Turkish industry’s export to the world, Aksoy added. (more…)
Posted by meb at March 29th, 2008
The Competition Board has approved the sale of alcohol and tobacco monopoly TEKEL’s tobacco division to British American Tobacco (BAT), the board announced yesterday on its Web site.
The Competition Board decided that the takeover of TEKEL’s tobacco division by BAT would not cause any competition problems in the market after deliberating on the sale at its meeting on Thursday. (more…)
Posted by meb at March 28th, 2008
GSD Holding, a Turkish company with interests in textiles and banking, said it is seeking a buyer for Tekstilbank, a corporate and retail lender. GSD plans to hold talks with investors on a possible partnership, cooperation or sale of shares, GSD said in a filing with the Istanbul Stock Exchange, Bloomberg reported. Speculation that the sale might already be sealed sent Tekstilbank up in the stock exchange yesterday, as the shares rose to YTL 2.1 mid-afternoon, gaining nearly 24 percent in one day. That jump values the bank at YTL 621 million ($490 million.) (more…)
Posted by meb at March 28th, 2008
The adverse effects of the closure case against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) are becoming more visible as time goes by. As Turkey’s markets lost over $20 billion on Monday in reaction to the case and as ongoing global turbulence got more serious, foreign investors started rapidly vacating the markets by selling their YTL-based holdings. Pointing out that since then the daily capital outflow has exceeded $100 million, which corresponds to a threefold rise, analysts say there will be a much worse storm if the Constitutional Court rules for the closure of the AK Party. They estimate that the dollar will sharply jump to YTL 1.35 from its levels below YTL 1.2 if the court accepts the case and starts proceedings on it. (more…)