Turkey Financial News

Posted by meb at October 19th, 2009

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or EBRD, which has been withdrawing gradually from Central European countries, plans to prioritize Turkey.

EBRD is the first international finance corporation, among many others, to revise Turkey’s economic growth in a positive direction.

The bank had published a report estimating Turkey’s 2010 growth to be 1 percent. The bank has revised that outlook to 3 percent.

The economies of eastern and southern Europe including Turkey, will experience an economic contraction this year, however, signs of recovery will begin next year, said the EBRD.

Turkey’s economy will contract nearly 6 percent in 2009, however that contraction rate is still well above contraction expected in other countries in the region. (more…)

Posted by meb at October 5th, 2009

Discussed for months but never detailed, key points of a government plan to turn Istanbul into a global financial center were finally revealed by a top minister on Friday.

Speaking at a press conference organized as part of the International Monetary Fund-World Bank annual meetings, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said Istanbul would soon become “a significant and prominent financial center.” Babacan tied the effort to the “void” created by the global financial crisis.

“Istanbul is the natural finance center of Turkey,” he told journalists. “We need to increase its competitive power regionally and globally. The competitive strength of our economy is very important.”

The project “Istanbul International Financial Center,” or IFC Istanbul, is included in the ninth development plan covering 2007-2013.

“In this action plan, in order to have Istanbul as a global finance center, priorities have been determined to build a legal infrastructure that operates on international standards, to increase diversity of financial products and services and to develop a simple and effective system,” said Babacan. “We need to enhance our legal infrastructure.” (more…)

Posted by meb at October 2nd, 2009

Turkey’s Central Bank said its monetary policy committee has discussed slowing the pace of an 11-month series of cuts to the benchmark interest rate.

The bank isn’t convinced by signs of economic recovery and decided to maintain its easing bias, it said in an e-mail statement of the minutes of the Sept. 17 meeting in Ankara.

Still, there’s a growing belief that the worst of the crisis has passed and “it’s appropriate to adopt a flexible policy and consider the possibility of slowing the reductions,” it said.

The bank lowered the benchmark rate by half a percentage point to a record 7.25 percent at the meeting, taking total reductions over the last 11 months to 9.5 percent, the biggest of any G-20 nation. Gross domestic product is likely to contract 6.5 percent this year, according to International Monetary Fund forecasts announced Thursday. (more…)

Posted by meb at September 17th, 2009

Turkish banking industry proves to be a high-profit business as its profit rises 33 percent to 11 billion Turkish Liras in the second quarter of the year. Although the banking industry has been displaying a great performance despite the global economic crisis, however the rising number of non-performing credits may be perceived alarming

The Turkish banking sector has increased its net profit by 33 percent in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, official figures revealed.

The sector raised its net profit to 11 billion Turkish Liras, according to the quarterly Financial Markets Report prepared by the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, or BRSA. (more…)

Posted by meb at September 15th, 2009

The Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) has announced they expect the Turkish economy, which has already entered a recovery phase, to recuperate further in 2010, albeit gradually.

Evaluating the impacts of an ongoing global financial crisis on the Turkish economy in their “Financial Markets Report,” the banking watchdog said recent tax reductions in various sectors have contributed much to rejuvenation in the markets, adding that the current recovery trend is expected to continue in 2010.

The BDDK report estimates, however, that the recovery will not be instant but rather slower. Mentioning certain risks in the market, the report reads: “Although international markets signal the end of the crisis is not far away, a recovery will arrive only step by step, not directly. The fact that companies have difficulty accessing loan sources and the increasing debt of the private sector add to concerns that the crisis’ risks will prevail for some time.” (more…)

Posted by meb at May 27th, 2009

Although the global economic crisis is causing great troubles for financial institutions virtually everywhere else in the world, including the age-old giant banks, Turkish banks are maintaining high profit rates, despite a small ebb, when compared to their performance in the previous years.

The crisis caused banks, in especially the US and Europe, to post losses in 2008 and the first quarter of this year. Many banks were confiscated, applied for bankruptcy or received huge bailouts from their governments in order to stay afloat. None of these nightmares have been witnessed by Turkish banks, which have all managed to make a profit. For example, all of the 17 banks whose shares are being traded in the İstanbul Stock Exchange (İMKB) were able to announce profits in the first quarter this year at a time when the global financial meltdown was most heavily felt across the global markets. (more…)

Posted by meb at April 28th, 2009

ISTANBUL – ING Groep NV will stick to its plans to double the size of its operation in Turkey by 2012, daily Milliyet reported, citing John McCarthy, chairman of ING Bank Turkey.

The bank plans to open 125 new branches by 2012 to double the number it had in 2007, the newspaper quoted McCarthy as saying. ING bought Turkish lender Oyak Bank from the Turkish military pension fund Oyak for $2.7 billion in 2007.
source: Hurriyet daily news

Posted by meb at March 22nd, 2009

Turkey’s Central Bank lowered its benchmark interest rate by 1 percentage point, its fifth consecutive cut, as industrial production slumped and inflation slowed.

Central Bank cuts key rate to record low Ankara-based Central Bank reduced its overnight borrowing rate to 10.5 percent, a record low, Thursday. The reduction matched the median estimate of 18 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The Bank will release minutes of the meeting within eight working days. (more…)