Turkey Financial News

Posted by meb at January 19th, 2009

Producer Price Index (2003=100)(TURKSTAT)(Monthly)
Consumer Price Index (2003=100) (TURKSTAT) (Monthly)
PPI(% Changes) CPI(% Changes)

01-2007 -0.05 1.00
02-2007 0.95 0.43
03-2007 0.97 0.92
04-2007 0.80 1.21
05-2007 0.39 0.50
06-2007 -0.11 -0.24
07-2007 0.06 -0.73
08-2007 0.85 0.02
09-2007 1.02 1.03
10-2007 -0.13 1.81
11-2007 0.89 1.95
12-2007 0.15 0.22
01-2008 0.42 0.80
02-2008 2.56 1.29
03-2008 3.17 0.96
04-2008 4.50 1.68
05-2008 2.12 1.49
06-2008 0.32 -0.36
07-2008 1.25 0.58
08-2008 -2.34 -0.24
09-2008 -0.90 0.45
10-2008 0.57 2.60
11-2008 -0.03 0.83
12-2008 -3.54 -0.41

source: Central Bank of Republic of Turkey

Posted by meb at January 19th, 2009

The Turkish automotive sector is taking an especially hard beating in the present global financial turbulence, with exports in the sector, long considered the locomotive of Turkish exports, shrinking by almost 70 percent in the first two weeks of January over the same period last year.

From Jan. 1 to Jan. 15 the country exported units totaling $250.9 million, down from $818.9 million last year.

Plummeting demand in international markets has led to closings in all of the sector’s main producers. Ford Otosan, OYAK Renault and Tofaş announced 12-day cuts in production for the month of January in response to falling demand. (more…)

Posted by meb at January 19th, 2009

The Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON), known for its determination to build “commerce bridges” to open new doors for Turkish investors, has chosen the Republic of Djibouti, a country in the Horn of Africa, as its portal to Eastern and Central Africa. Djibouti is a small country, but it plays a key role in reaching out to Eastern and Central African markets, which are home to hundreds of millions of people.

TUSKON last week hosted Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh in the capital. Djibouti has great potential in free trade zone and port operations, and the country is rapidly developing. Guelleh called on TUSKON investors to invest in Djibouti. The confederation will be sending a delegation to the country in the coming days. (more…)

Posted by meb at January 19th, 2009

Turkish energy minister said the consortium, which offered 21.16 cents kWh for the construction and management of Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, revised its initial offer on Monday.

Turkey’s government has received a revised offer from the consortium, formed by Russia’s state-run Atomstroyexport, Inter RAO and Turkish Park Teknik to the nuclear plant, Dogan News Agency reported Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler saying in Ankara. (more…)

Posted by meb at January 19th, 2009

The Turkish lira currency lost more than 1.5 percent against the U.S. dollar on Monday as foreign investors’ demand for the greenback increased on a London based bond sell-off.

The lira, which opened morning trading at 1.61 levels, increased above 1.64 levels during afternoon trade.

“We saw sales orders for Turkish bonds sourced from London, which are thought to be customer orders. These sales raised the currency market,” Reuters reported citing a foreign currency expert. (more…)

Posted by meb at January 13th, 2009

A German automotive supplier will soon launch a greenfield investment in Turkey, spending 15 million euros despite the darkening outlook in the Turkish automotive industry, which is suffering from a contraction in domestic and international sales.

C. Rob. Hammerstein GmbH & Co. KG (CRH), based in Solingen, Germany, and the Coordination Council for the Improvement of the Investment Environment (YOİKK) announced in a joint statement yesterday that a CRH facility will be built in Gebze, Kocaeli, and that it will employ 400 workers once finished. (more…)

Posted by meb at January 13th, 2009

Those investing in gold enjoyed the best return on their investments in Turkey over the course of 2008.

The Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) yesterday disclosed the real rates of return of major investment instruments during 2008. The real rates take into account inflation linked to both the producer price index (PPI) and the consumer price index (CPI).

Investors in gold received the highest rate of return, 22.48 percent, once inflation was taken into account over the course of 2008. Those investing in the dollar in 2008 earned 19.21 percent on their outlays, as the dollar strengthened markedly against the YTL over the year. The euro rose 11.3 percent against the YTL and interest rates on YTL deposits got savers an average of 4.91 percent on deposit accounts. The İstanbul Stock Exchange (İMKB), which had brought the highest profit margins to investors in 2007, failed to perform in 2008. The stock market lost an average of 57.75 last year. (more…)

Posted by meb at January 13th, 2009

A total of 54,700 automotive workers lost their jobs from the Turkish sector’s top producing province of Bursa in 2008, a labor union representative told Anatolian Agency on Tuesday.

Turkish automakers cut 54,700 jobs in leading Bursa province in 2008

The job cuts that are mainly due to the rising fall in domestic and foreign demand which intensified in the last quarter, has reached a level of concern, Mehmet Kanca, representative of Turk-Is labor union said.

“We are facing figures which exceed our estimations… A total of 5,683 workers were laid-off in October, while this figures were 9,283 in November and 9,397 workers in December,” Kanca said adding that the cumulative job cuts in the last quarter of 2008 registered as much as 24,368.

Kanca, also said that the figures resulted in a monthly average of 4,725 lost jobs, a level which was concerning.

The Turkish subsidiaries of Italian Fiat and French Renault have production facilities in Bursa province, as well as Germany’s Bosch, supplier of diesel engine technologies to several automakers. More than 80 percent of the automotive output in the province is exported.

Kanca also said that the expectation for 2009 was no better than in 2008 and urged for measures which would particularly protect purchasing power and boost domestic demand.

“Excise tax and value added tax (VAT) should be either removed or reduced to a minimum… Incentives should be given to purchasing locally produced vehicles.”

Recent economic data has shown the financial crisis hitting Turkey hard — economic growth hit a six-year low in the third quarter, when gross domestic product expanded just 0.5 percent year-on-year. (more…)