Turkey Financial News

Posted by meb at January 7th, 2009

(Million $)
Sectors January-October 2007 2008

Agriculture, hunting, fishing and forestry 8 39
Mining and quarrying 326 117
Manufacturing 3.945 3.094
Manufacture of food products,
beverages and tobacco 727 936
Manufacture of textiles 216 181
Manufacture of chemicals and
chemical products 1.010 85
Manufacture of machinery and
equipment n.e.c. 46 132
Manufacture of motor vehicles,
trailers and semi-trailers 65 56
Other Manufacturing 1.881 1.704
Electricity, gas and water supply 550 794
Construction 242 809
Wholesale and retail trade 144 1.925
Hotels and restaurants 19 22
Transport, storage and communications 542 135
Financial intermediation 8.742 5.199
Real estate, renting and business activities 453 449
Other community, social and
personal service activities 187 184
Total 15.158 12.766

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

Posted by meb at January 7th, 2009

Germans and Russians were the largest groups of foreign tourists choosing Antalya as a vacation destination in 2008, officials from the Antalya Culture and Tourism Department said on Monday.
Officials said a total of 9.9 million tourists, including Turkish expats, visited Antalya in 2008. Germans topped the list of foreigners who vacationed in Antalya, they added.

Around 2.3 million Germans visited Antalya last year. The number of German tourists visiting the city was up 4.56 percent in 2008 over 2007. According to officials, the number of Russian tourists visiting Antalya in 2008 was up 20.10 percent over 2007, reaching 2.1 million. (more…)

Posted by meb at January 6th, 2009

Nearly 70 million tons of crude oil were transported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline between its opening in June 2006 and the end of 2008, officials from BOTAŞ International Limited (BIL), the operator of the BTC Turkey section, said on Tuesday.
BIL officials said the BTC pipeline project, dubbed the “energy project of the century,” successfully carried Caspian oil to world markets through Turkey. According to officials, close to 70 million tons of crude oil have been transported from the Haydar Aliyev Seaport to Ceyhan, Adana province, since June 2, 2006. This oil was then transported by 650 tankers to points beyond Turkey. BIL General Director Salih Paşaoğlu said his company carried the crude oil from Ardahan to Ceyhan, overcoming difficult circumstances such as rough terrain and changing climatic conditions. “We have shown the world that a Turkish company can carry out such an important project and meet world standards. We have improved Turkey’s standing in world energy markets,” Paşaoğlu stated. (more…)

Posted by meb at January 6th, 2009

Turkey’s Central Bank will lower interest rates by three percentage points in the next four months as inflation pressure weakens, according to Cem Akyürek, an economist at Deutsche Bank in Istanbul.

The deal that the government is expected to sign with the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, should help maintain fiscal discipline and give the Central Bank more room for cutting rates from the current 15 percent, Akyürek wrote in a research note Monday. 3Our forecast had policy rates at 13.75 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2009, which we had pulled to end of the first quarter recently,” Akyürek wrote. “Now we believe the Central Bank can go deeper, as we predict that policy rates will decline to 12 percent over the next four months.” (more…)

Posted by meb at January 2nd, 2009

As the ongoing global financial turbulence starts to take its toll on the information technology sector in Turkey, many have pinned their hopes on the growth of telecommunications investments in the new year.

The Turkish information technology sector actually made a promising start in 2008; however, negative developments that came one after another, including political uncertainty and the global economic crisis, caused the sector to shift down. (more…)

Posted by meb at January 2nd, 2009

As Turkish construction companies seek ways to stay afloat under the strain of the financial crisis, which continues to batter global markets, the weakest links will not escape elimination in 2009.

Since the most destructive effects of the crisis are hitting the construction sector, Turkish companies are also feeling the heat. Having seen a drop of 4.3 percent in the third quarter of 2008, the sector shrank by 1.1 percent in the first nine-month period of the year. Four years ago no construction company would have imagined such a downfall in the sector. Beginning in 2004, the construction sector entered a new era. Due to economic stability, real estate interest rates fell dramatically and the sector experienced in its heyday. Numerous new mass building projects were introduced, people flocked to the sales offices of construction companies to buy apartments, paying large sums of money. This trend grew, turning big cities into giant construction sites. The breathtaking increase in demand encouraged many companies that had never worked in construction before to enter the construction sector. However, it seems companies that entered the sector without enough capital and experience will have to leave the stage soon. (more…)

Posted by meb at January 2nd, 2009

As Turkish retailers bid farewell to 2008 amid quarrels over high rent prices in shopping malls, the first quarter of 2009 is poised to see a remarkable decline in the amount of new shopping mall investments.

The Turkish retailing sector expects a serious stagnation in the first quarter of the new year. Currently 267 new shopping malls in Turkey are either operating, under construction or are planned. Of these, 89 are in İstanbul.

United Brands Association (BMD) Chairman Ekrem Akyiğit told Today’s Zaman that he expects 80 percent of new shopping malls to delay opening in 2009. According to Akyiğit, shopping mall managers now understand that opening a new mall in every single city will not bring profit. (more…)

Posted by meb at January 2nd, 2009

The automotive industry in Turkey, like so many other countries throughout the world, entered a period of stagnation in the second half of 2008 as the global financial crisis, coupled with a resulting drop in demand, slowed the industry’s production lines.

Tens of thousands of workers relying on work in the sector to feed their families have lost their jobs and the gloomy situation is expected to get even worse in 2009. It is estimated that just in Bursa, a major center of auto manufacturing in Turkey, nearly 55,000 people will be laid off this year. Experts say the crisis will get even deeper in 2009 and the first positive signs will only be seen by early 2010. Many companies have already started to grant their workers temporary leave as they halt production for two-to-four-week periods. (more…)