Turkey Financial News

Posted by meb at September 2nd, 2008

Due to a new Russian policy, Turkish trucks are forming long queues at Russian borders as average customs proceedings for Turkish trucks take 20 to 40 days.

Turkey is now on the verge of losing long-standing, balanced commercial relations with its top trade partner. The predicted total loss to Turkish firms as a result is about $1 billion so far and, should the problems continue, this number may exceed $3 billion by the end of the year. On the other hand, Russia claims to have lost $26 billion due to contraband passing their borders.

The Cihan news agency yesterday quoted Vladimir Zubkov, press spokesperson for the Russian Federal Customs Service, as saying that the Russia is not singling out Turkish goods, as similar customs regulations apply to other countries, too. “We have problems mostly with Turkish goods at our customs points, but Turkey should not be held responsible for this. We just want to control our borders firmly and record the goods that pass our customs points from now on,” Zubkov said. (more…)

Posted by meb at September 2nd, 2008

Turkey has grown increasingly concerned that a crisis over customs procedures between itself and Russia may spread to gas and petroleum commerce. Natural gas demand in Turkey spikes in the winter and has been met by Russia every year.

At the moment, 60 percent of Turkey’s natural gas and about half of its crude oil demand are supplied by Russia. Any possible disturbance in crude oil needs can be supplied from other countries and the international spot market. However, a similar solution for a natural gas crisis is not available. Experts do not think Russia would cut gas imports completely, but they worry that Russia may not provide more gas than already promised. In such a case, Turkey would likely be faced by a serious energy crisis. (more…)

Posted by meb at September 2nd, 2008

Turkey has stepped back from implementing full-fledged Customs inspections on trucks from Russia and vehicles carrying goods of Russian origin, which had been devised as retaliation against actions taken by Russian Customs authorities on Turkish exporters attempting to cross the Russian border.

Following a Cabinet meeting yesterday Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesperson Cemil Çiçek announced that negotiations for a solution with Russia would continue in the days ahead. A proposal floated by Minister of State for Foreign Trade Kürşad Tüzmen to retaliate for non-tariff barriers imposed by the Russians was not approved, he added.

Tüzmen had announced on Friday that Turkey would officially launch a package of measures against Russia on Monday by placing it in the high-risk country category. Russia recently labeled Turkey a high-risk country. Tüzmen had said earlier on Monday that Russian goods were “in the red channel,” meaning Turkish Customs officials would physically check Russian goods at border crossings, in lieu of relying solely accompanying documentation. Turkish officials would also implement the “red channel” against goods from third parties to Russia, forcing Russian goods to wait at the border. (more…)

Posted by meb at September 2nd, 2008

A clear majority of visitors coming to Turkey hail from the middle-income bracket, figures provided by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) show.

According to tourism statistics for the second quarter of 2008, 66.9 percent of all visitors belonged to the middle-income bracket in their respective countries, whereas only 18.8 percent of them enjoyed a higher-than-average standard of living. Only 2.2 percent of the visitors could be considered wealthy.

According to the TurkStat figures, 6.6 million visitors crossed Turkey’s borders in the second quarter. Of these, 5.9 million were foreign nationals and some 724,000 were Turkish citizens living abroad. A total of 53.4 percent of all visitors were male and 52.5 percent had a university diploma or higher degree. (more…)

Posted by meb at September 1st, 2008

Russia has expanded the coverage of non-trade barriers against Turkish exporters to this country by enforcing a complete inspection of Turkish trucks coming from Europe.

Already extremely discontent with the tightened controls on Turkish goods at the Russian border — as this causes serious losses to Turkish trade — Foreign Trade Minister Kürşad Tüzmen’s tone was once more that of anger when commenting on this newest development, saying, “This is clearly a non-tariff barrier.”

Speaking to the press after meeting his Chinese counterpart Chen Deming in Beijing, Tüzmen said steps to normalize relations through diplomacy seem to have failed so far. As he announced on Friday, Turkey is poised to initiate a package of measures to counter the Russian obstacles on the basis of reciprocity. In other words, Turkey will place the Russian Federation into the category of high-risk countries and will incur full-fledged inspections to all trucks coming from Russia.

Russia says lengthy inspections of trucks from NATO-member Turkey, which coincide with tensions between Moscow and the military alliance over the Caucasus, where Russia this month fought a short war with Georgia, are due to a new customs law. (more…)

Posted by meb at August 30th, 2008

Not being a member of the European Union, or EU, has not affected Turkey’s real estate market, reported an international property website citing a property expert.

Although Turkey is still on the waiting list to become a member of the EU the real estate market of the country has been booming already, said Liam Bailey, Property Wire’s global markets expert on propertyshowrooms.com.

One of the greatest advantages the market has is that prices remain “relatively low,” despite increasing by between 30 and 40 percent in the past two years, he said. An example of this is that a two-bedroom apartment in Dalaman, a small Mediterranean farming town situated between Marmaris and Fethiye, can be bought for as little as 40,000 pounds, he added. (more…)

Posted by meb at August 30th, 2008

Turkey’s importance for Europe has grown in the aftermath of a brief Russian-Georgian war in the Caucasus and Europe should develop joint strategies with Turkey, members of the European Parliament said yesterday.

Cem Özdemir, a German member of the European Parliament, said it was an undeniable fact that Turkey’s importance has grown in the aftermath of the Caucasus crisis. “This is why there is a greater need for closer ties between Turkey and the European Union,” he told a press conference in Berlin. “Of course, there are conditions to be met for this, but Turkey should become a part of Europe.” (more…)

Posted by meb at August 30th, 2008

The Georgian incursion into South Ossetia and the ensuing Russian response has dealt a serious blow to trade in the Caucasus, which was already battered by tension in the region.

Turkey suffered serious losses in economic terms. The country’s trade not only with Georgia, but also with Azerbaijan and Central Asia was blocked. Thousands of trucks had to wait on the road and deliveries could not be performed.

There is talk now about restrictions imposed by Russia on Turkish commodities at its customs. Following the crisis in Georgia, Russia distributed a circular that imposed several restriction on goods imported from Turkey and instructed Russian officials to slow down the acceptance procedures for Turkish goods at customs, which meant a secret embargo was put in place by Russian authorities on Turkish commodities. According to a statement from the Russian side, Russian authorities are just trying to assert control over their customs and fight against bribery and corruption. However, Turkish exporters argue that this practice discriminates against trucks coming from Turkey. (more…)