Turkey Financial News

Posted by meb at January 9th, 2009

Turkish stocks rose 1 percent on Friday after the release of the U.S. government jobs report, in which job cuts remained below expectations. The lira also gained nearly 0.5 percent against the dollar.

Turkey’s benchmark stock exchange, which held steady on Friday following big losses on Thursday, rose 1 percent after the release of the U.S. government jobs report, which provides the latest grim assessment of the global financial crisis, remained below expectations.

The lira currency also gained against the U.S. dollar and traded at 1.54 levels. (more…)

Posted by meb at January 8th, 2009

A delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will begin talks with the Turkish government today, with the area of anticipated revenues from privatizations projected to be the main point of contention between the two parties.

The delegation is expected to urge the government to introduce additional measures to increase savings because it argues that the government cannot meet its budget targets under current conditions.

Sources close to the Treasury suggest that the main problem area in the talks between the government’s senior economy executives and the IMF delegation will be the issue of revenue from privatizations. The Finance Ministry has added the revenue expected from privatization projects as an income item for the 2009 budget. IMF officials, however, argue that the global crisis will prevent the government from earning the targeted income of TL 12 billion from privatizations in 2009. (more…)

Posted by meb at January 8th, 2009

Turkey’s Eximbank will deliver $12.9 billion in financial support to exporters in 2009: $6.9 billion in cash loans and $6 billion as insurance for other transactions, said Kürşad Tüzmen, minister of state for foreign trade.

At a news conference in Ankara yesterday with Turk Eximbank General Manager Ahmet Kılıçoğlu and Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TİM) President Mehmet Büyükekşi, the minister disclosed details about Eximbank’s projected activities for the new year. He said Eximbank planned to increase its total support by 37 percent in 2009 over that of the previous year. If Turkey reaches its export target of $109 billion by the end of 2009, Eximbank’s financial backing would account for only 11.5 percent of total exports. (more…)

Posted by meb at January 8th, 2009

Turkey saw $18.4 billion in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in 2008, with the 172 deals recorded for the year representing a 30 percent decline over 2007, a new report has indicated.

According to Deloitte Turkey’s annual M&A report, released yesterday, excluding privatizations, which rang in at about 38 percent ($7 billion) of the total volume, this number was 30 percent below the total for 2007. With the increasing force of the ongoing economic crisis, which picked up momentum in the last quarter of 2008, M&A activity in the last three months of the year was 60 percent below that of the previous year’s fourth quarter figures, the report noted. (more…)

Posted by meb at January 8th, 2009

The Turkish domestic market for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) shrunk by 17 percent last year, from 594,762 individual recorded sales in 2007 to 494,023 in 2008.

According to statistics provided by the Automotive Distributors’ Association (ODD), car sales in 2008 decreased to 305,998, a drop of 14.4 percent compared to 2007. The total sales of LCVs dropped also, down to 188,025 with a 20.8 percent fall on 2007.

In December 2008, the total number of sales within the Turkish automotive market was 42,078 — 25,879 were cars and 16,199 were LCVs. Car sales for December 2008 decreased by 58 percent compared to December 2007 while the decrease in demand for LCVs was almost identical, 59 percent, in the same period. (more…)

Posted by meb at January 8th, 2009

Turkish industrial production fell 13.9 percent year-on-year in November, due mainly a signification drop in demand in the automotive sector, the Turkish Statistics Institute said on Thursday. The figures reveal the largest drop in production since November 2001.

Turkish industrial output tumbled the most in seven years in November as demand for cars slumped in Europe and local automakers responded by halting production.

The Turkish economy has slowed sharply as the impact of the global credit crisis continues to be felt more deeply. Gross domestic product expanded 0.5 percent in the third quarter of the year, its slowest pace in six years, after growing 2.3 percent in the second three month term. (more…)

Posted by meb at January 7th, 2009

2008 Annual interest rates USD – EUR
January 7,2 – 6,3
February 7,1 – 6,3
March 7,0 – 6,5
April 7,0 – 6,6
May 7,1 – 6,7
June 7,3 – 6,8
July 7,5 – 7,1
August 7,5 – 7,1
September 9,4 – 7,3
October 11,3 – 8,7
November 11,5 – 9,5

source: Central Bank of Turkey

Posted by meb at January 7th, 2009

Countries (January-October) 2007 – 2008
European Union 9.649 – 9.631
Germany 923 – 973
Netherlands 2.619 – 1.354
United Kingdom 667 – 1.912
Other EU countries 5.260 – 5.392
Other European countries
(excluding EU countries) 261 – 183
Africa 5 – 82
U.S.A. 3.645 – 815
Canada 10 – 9
Central-South America 494 – 56
Asian Countries 1.247 – 1.990
Gulf Arabian Countries 285 – 1.686
Middle East 210 – 216
Other Asian countries 752 – 88
Other countries 27 – 0
TOTAL SUM 15.158 – 12.766

Provisional Data, Source: Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey