Turkey Financial News

Posted by meb at July 17th, 2008

Eight companies and consortiums have so far received specifications for Turkey’s first nuclear power plant tender, a senior Turkish official said on Thursday

“China Nuclear Power Components from China and Unit Investment N.V. from the Netherlands are the last two companies that have received specifications to construct and operate a nuclear power plant in the Mediterranean province of Mersin and sell electrical energy to the Turkish Electricity Trading and Contracting (TETAS),” said Haci Duran Gokkaya, the director-general of TETAS. (more…)

Posted by meb at July 17th, 2008

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, especially famous for his ownership of British Premier League soccer club Chelsea, is planning to order a second yacht from Turkey, after being impressed by the technology and craftsmanship of his first one.

Ada Marine Group Executive Board President Murat Bilican recalled that the Russian tycoon had initially purchased an ABY 36 Oyster model luxury yacht, which was constructed at İstanbul’s Tuzla shipyards last year and delivered to Abramovich in December. The construction had taken nine months, a fairly quick turnover time for yachts of this class. “The first yacht is currently anchored at Chelsea harbor in London,” Bilican noted. The first yacht, which cost YTL 780,000, has a composite hull made of bulletproof carbon fiber. All the necessary technology for communication was also installed in the yacht, allowing its owners to contact any location in the world. (more…)

Posted by meb at July 17th, 2008

Verbund, Austria’s biggest utility, and Turkish partner Sabanı Holding are planning to expand in Turkey by building power plants and buying distribution grids. In order to accopmlish its plans the venture was granted a 1-billion-euro ($1.6 billion) loan by the World Bank’s International Finance Corp., Akbank and WestLB. “Our goal is to buy at least one more large distribution large company or two mid-sized ones,” Sabancı Chief Executive Officer Ahmet Dördüncü said in an interview Tuesday. “We currently have 3 million customers, and we want to raise that to at least 6 million people.” Enerjisa, co-owned by Sabancı and Verbund, bid $1.23 billion to win a state tender July 1 for the Turkish capital Ankara’s electricity distribution grid, which has 2.9 million customers. (more…)

Posted by meb at July 17th, 2008

Turkey’s year-on-year exports surpassed $125 billion and have reached the target for this year, a state minister announced yesterday.

Exports rose 35 percent between Jan. 1 and July 15, State Minister Kürşad Tüzmen told the Anatolia news agency. Industrial products exports reached $64 billion in the first half of the year, Tüzmen said, adding that the iron and steel sector reported the greatest rise, with an increase of 69 percent. (more…)

Posted by meb at July 14th, 2008

Turkey’s state minister, Mehmet Simsek forecast on Monday around 12-14 billion dollars of foreign capital flow in Turkey in 2008.

Turkey’s economy forecasts $12-14 bln in FDI inflows in 2008.

“Turkey forecasts a net foreign capital inflow of $12-14 billion this year,” Simsek told an Anatolian Agency correspondent.

Turkey was planning to draw gross $18 billion of direct foreign capital in 2008. (more…)

Posted by meb at July 14th, 2008

Turkey has dislodged Spain from its position as favorite British tourist destination, as the overvalued euro has rendered vacations in Spain quite costly, a recent survey has shown.

UK newspaper the Daily Telegraph published the results of the survey, which was conducted by independent travel group Cooperative Travel on 200,000 Britons.

The daily identified the new situation as a “seismic shift” in the way Britons make their bookings and reasoned that this change is a direct result of the economic crisis that began with the US-subprime mortgage market and then spread to Europe and beyond. Britain is one of the countries that have seen the greatest impact from this crisis. The survey revealed that the average cost of a vacation in Spain for a British tourist is 465 pounds whereas it is only 357 pounds in Turkey. The daily noted that Spain had been the most favored destination among Britons since the 1960s. (more…)

Posted by meb at July 14th, 2008

Foreign Trade Minister Kürşad Tüzmen has said Iraq would become a neighbor with an annual oil revenue of over $250 billion once stability is achieved in the country and that the total trade volume between Turkey and Iraq would reach $30 billion as Iraq becomes normalized.

Trade volume between the two countries in the first six months of this year exceeded $2.2 billion. Turkey is seeking to make this figure $5 billion by the end of the year. (more…)

Posted by meb at July 14th, 2008

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Güler has stated that an American oil company has put in a request with his ministry to perform oil exploration in the Black Sea.

Speaking to the press on Saturday during his visit to İzmir for the opening of the Yuntdağı Wind Energy Power Plant (RES), Güler said Turkey’s oil exploration will begin in the Black Sea in 2009, adding that the aim is to find a good source very quickly as the cost of oil drilling is very high both on land and offshore. (more…)