Turkey Financial News

Posted by meb at May 31st, 2008

A former leader of the International Olive Oil Council (IOOC) has stated that the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) region has great potential for olive production and that Turkey should use this potential wisely for the development of this region.

Shimon Lavee, a former president of the IOOC, an intergovernmental organization in charge of safeguarding olive and olive oil quality and ensuring that olive oil products are marketed properly, visited the International Wine, Olive, Olive Oil and Technology Fair in İzmir on Thursday. He told the Anatolia news agency that Turkey’s GAP region presents a golden opportunity for development through olive production. (more…)

Posted by meb at May 31st, 2008

A new energy agreement signed between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan linking a planned oil pipeline to Azerbaijan’s Baku was ratified by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev yesterday, marking an opportunity for Turkey to market Caspian Sea oil to the rest of the world.

Under the agreement, Kazakhstan will transport oil through the new Eksene-Kuruk pipeline, to be constructed, and also via tankers, to Baku, the starting point of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which passes through Georgia and terminates in Turkey. Kazakhstan’s KazMunai Gaz and Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil company have been negotiating since 2002 for ways to make possible the integration of Kazakh oil to the BTC. (more…)

Posted by meb at May 30th, 2008

As the government received an initial $1.02 billion for the strategic petrochemicals giant Petkim, the handover of the company’s assets to buyers is expected to take place today.

Socar-Turcas-Injaz Joint Venture Group, offered $2.04 billion at the tender held in July for 51 percent public shares of Petkim, the privatization of which started in 1987. The process received mixed reactions from different segments of society. (more…)

Posted by meb at May 30th, 2008

A draft bill prepared by Justice and Development Party (AK Party) İstanbul deputy Mehmet Domaç will exempt yachts, cutters and motorboats from vehicle and motor vehicle taxes.

The bill aims to persuade Turkish private vessel owners who currently register their boats with foreign countries to return to running their vessels under the Turkish flag. The regulation also aims to increase demand for maritime businesses by helping them lower costs, which have risen with increasing fuel costs. The bill has already been presented to a parliamentary commission and the government has given its full support to the proposals laid out in it. (more…)

Posted by meb at May 27th, 2008

Royal Dutch Shell will become a partner on the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline project, which will transport Kazakh oil through Turkey, after signing an agreement next month to that end.

Çalık Enerji and Italy’s Eni S.p.A. have formed a 50/50 joint venture known as the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline Company (TAPCO) to build and operate the pipeline. Two sources told Reuters yesterday that Shell’s purchase of shares from TAPCO has been negotiated and that feasibility studies have almost been completed for the project. The same sources said an agreement on the partnership is expected by the end of June. (more…)

Posted by meb at May 27th, 2008

Turkey’s free trade zones enjoyed a significant leap in trade volume in the first quarter of 2008, engaging in $6.5 billion in transactions, a jump of 17.2 percent over the same period last year.

The largest share in total trade belonged to the İstanbul Leather Free Zone, which recorded $1.6 billion. The Aegean Free Zone saw $983.8 million in trade and was followed by the İstanbul Atatürk Airport’s duty-free services with $938.5 million. (more…)

Posted by meb at May 27th, 2008

The confidence of foreign investors in the Turkish economy has taken a beating because of the closure case filed against the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, said the prime minister over the weekend. Speaking to a group of journalists on his way back from Lebanon, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the government had expected $25 billion in foreign investment this year, but the case had created concern among investors resulting in a revision of this figure to $12 billion. (more…)

Posted by meb at May 27th, 2008

Amid a global credit crunch that stemmed from the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis and growing domestic concerns over the closure case against the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, the U.S. dollar may climb to YTL 1.50 in the upcoming period, a recent survey has revealed.

Turkish capital and money markets are basing their game plans upon three scenarios, according to the views of 20 analysts surveyed by business daily Referans. (more…)