Posted by meb at June 30th, 2008
Trade volume in Turkey’s free trade zones increased 14 percent to $11.1 billion in the first five months of 2008 when compared to the same period last year.
According to figures from the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat, the İstanbul Leather Free Zone exported $2.5 billion of products, while the Aegean Free Zone exported $1.7 billion and İstanbul-Atatürk Airport (AHL) $1.3 billion in the first five months of 2007. (more…)
Posted by meb at June 30th, 2008
The privatization processes for the Turkish national lottery (Milli Piyango), the country’s highways and sugar processing plants are expected to begin in July, however Halkbank’s privatization has been suspended, says the head of the Privatization Administration (ÖİB).
ÖİB President Metin Kilci, in an interview with Anka news agency, said the ÖİB was waiting for the relevant bills to pass in Parliament for the launch of the privatization processes for Milli Piyango and highways.
Milli Piyango’s privatization — a process long seen as stagnant after deferral due to early elections and a subsequent presidential vote last year — was postponed from May until June. The bill enacted to open tenders for the privatization of Milli Piyango was recently approved by a parliamentary subcommittee, while the bill on highway privatization is still pending in Parliament. Kilci stated the privatization processes for Milli Piyango and highways would be launched one week after the relevant bills are published in the Official Gazette. (more…)
Posted by meb at June 30th, 2008
Turkey’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.6 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the Turkish Statistics Institute said on Monday. It exceeded expectations, which were around 5 percent.
The main driver of strong growth in the first quarter is the support of net exports, whose contribution returned to positive territory after two quarters.
The strongest growth came out in manufacturing with 7 percent, with 9.9 percent in trade and 7.7 percent in transport, despite a slowdown in construction with 2.8 percent. (more…)
Posted by meb at June 28th, 2008
“As TPAO … we have started talks with Shell and several other oil companies for a partnership,” Reuters quoted TPAO General Manager Mehmet Uysal as saying. A Shell spokesman declined immediate comment. Officials had previously said the deals, which are aimed at lifting output at Iraq’s largest producing fields by a combined 500,000 barrels a day, would be announced on June 30.
Iraq wants to ramp up production by 500,000 barrels per day from the current average production of 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd), a level about equal to before the United States-led invasion in March 2003. (more…)
Posted by meb at June 28th, 2008
Turkey’s policy of determining strategies to enhance exports result in a considerable contribution to the overall export volume. These strategies are expected to be implemented until at least 2010.
An example of such success, the “Neighboring and Regional Countries Export Strategy” was put in place eight years ago. That year, exports to the countries covered by this strategy totaled $6.9 billion. As of the end of 2007, they have reached $40.7 billion. (more…)
Posted by meb at June 28th, 2008
Spanish Essentium Group, which has purchased Universal Çimento, announced this week that it will invest 400 million euros to establish two integral cement factories in Turkey.
The group, comprised of over 50 construction-related companies, announced its investment decision during a seminar on bilateral economic and commercial relations between Turkey and Spain held in Madrid Wednesday. The first plant will be located in Bilecik, near Istanbul, and will provide for the entire Marmara region, which accounts for the largest part of Turkey’s cement consumption, daily Hürriyet reported Thursday. The second plant will be located in the Osmaniye province in the south of the country, near Adana, in an area with a (more…)
Posted by meb at June 28th, 2008
The purchase was the latest in a string of foreign acquisitions in Turkey’s fast-growing and fragmented insurance sector.
Guven Sigorta has a 2.4 percent share of the Turkish non-life insurance market, ranking it 13th, while Guven Hayat has 1.2 percent of the life insurance market, ranking it 15th.
Unlisted Groupama is one of France’s top insurers and competes domestically with listed rivals AXA and CNP. (more…)
Posted by meb at June 28th, 2008
The Treasury plans to sell 12.1 billion YTL of debts in July and 10.6 billion YTL debts in August, it said in a written statement late on Thursday announced earlier than usual. The Turkish Treasury announces its debt programs on the last work day of the month.
The total redemption in July and August is equal to the 33 percent of Turkey’s projected debt service for 2008.
The Treasury also said the domestic debt service to the market, excluding public banks and payments to the central bank, amounts to 19.8 billion YTL. (more…)
