Turkey Financial News

Posted by meb at August 27th, 2008

Although foreign investors inflow to Turkey has been rising over the past few years, the country’s ‘non-investment grade’ level remains unchanged. This is not only a problem for foreign investors; it also is a problem for all newborn children in Turkey, says Ersin Özince, the Banks Association of Turkey chairman, urging change…

There is no need to grade the Turkish government’s economic performance separately, as Turkey’s current credit rating is already an indicator of its economic report card, according to the chairman of the Banks Association of Turkey.

Both prior to and following the court case to possibly close down the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, Turkey’s credit rating in the eyes of all rating agencies remained at a “non-investment grade” level, said Ersin Özince, the managing director of İşbank, Turkey’s largest publicly traded bank. (more…)

Posted by meb at August 14th, 2008

Turkey’s central bank held the benchmark interest rates steady at 16.75 percent as expected on Thursday, a statement issued on the central bank’s official website said.

Turkish central bank had increased interest rates by 1.5 percentage points in the April-July period to fight inflation fueled by rising global oil and food costs.

“Considering the monetary tightening since May, the committee believes that the current level of the policy rate is supportive of disinflation. Yet, prevailing risks regarding the price setting behavior and ongoing global uncertainties require monetary policy to remain cautious and to be more responsive to incoming data,” the bank said in a statement. (more…)

Posted by meb at August 13th, 2008

Gold bars and bank deposits have become the most lucrative financial instruments in July, the latest figures released by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) have shown.

TurkStat announced the real rate of return for a number of investment instruments for the month of July. The figures show that gold bars were the most lucrative instrument, at 4.50 percent. Investors in the stock exchange made a profit of 4.20 percent, the US dollar rose in value by 1.70 percent and the euro depreciated by 0.30 percent. (more…)

Posted by meb at August 7th, 2008

Turkey’s mergers and acquisitions (M&As) saw no letup in the first half of 2008 even though the country’s economic and political agenda was fraught with tension, compounded by a global credit crunch, a recent report has shown.

“M&A Operations in Turkey:
Mid-year 2008 Assessment,” prepared by Deloitte and the Turkish weekly Ekonomist magazine, was released yesterday. It shows that there have been 92 M&As with total transaction volume of $11 billion, representing an increase over the same period of last year, when total M&A transactions reached $10.5 billion. Turkish M&As, the report noted, pulled through partly because the credit crunch had shifted the funds’ focus from developed countries to developing countries. (more…)

Posted by meb at August 7th, 2008

Garanti Bank reported second-quarter profit declined after year-earlier results were boosted by the sale of the bank’s two insurance units. Net income dropped by 51 percent from a year earlier to YTL 534.9 million ($463 million). The figure was calculated by subtracting first-quarter profit from the YTL 1.03 billion of first-half net income Garanti announced yesterday.

The sale of insurance units helped boost last year’s second-quarter profit to YTL 1.09 billion. A year ago, the bank gained YTL 782.2 million from “other activities,” which included the sale. Excluding the insurance units’ sale, Garanti’s first-half profit rose 21 percent from the previous year, the bank said. (more…)

Posted by meb at August 1st, 2008

Standard & Poor’s on Thursday revised its outlook on Turkey to stable from negative on the diminished near-term political uncertainty after the country’s top court’s decision not to ban the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). S&P affirmed the country’s credit rating at “BB-”.

“The stable outlook on Turkey balances the improvement in the republic’s external financing prospects and underlying fundamentals against its vulnerability to financing shocks,” S&P said in a statement. (more…)

Posted by meb at July 28th, 2008

CBRT Interest Rates
Borrowing Lending
Overnight 16.75 20.25
Late Liquidity 12.75 23.25

CBRT Exchange Rates
FX Buying FX Selling
Dollar 1.1994 1.2052
Euro 1.8878 1.8969

source: Central Bank of Turkey

Posted by meb at July 28th, 2008

Producer Price Index (2003=100)(TURKSTAT)(Monthly)
Consumer Price Index (2003=100) (TURKSTAT) (Monthly)

PPI(% Changes) CPI(% Changes)

01-2003 .. ..
02-2003 2.20 1.54
03-2003 1.73 1.96
04-2003 -0.82 0.99
05-2003 -0.98 0.96
06-2003 -0.24 0.08
07-2003 0.36 -0.19
08-2003 0.54 0.16
09-2003 -0.09 1.35
10-2003 1.06 0.93
11-2003 2.12 1.27
12-2003 0.47 0.42
01-2004 3.77 0.66
02-2004 0.21 0.52
03-2004 0.59 0.96
04-2004 2.27 0.50
05-2004 4.54 0.43
06-2004 0.80 -0.13
07-2004 -0.74 0.48
08-2004 0.97 0.76
09-2004 0.72 0.95
10-2004 2.47 2.25
11-2004 -0.00 1.31
12-2004 -1.08 0.32
01-2005 -0.41 0.55
02-2005 0.11 0.02
03-2005 1.26 0.26
04-2005 1.21 0.71
05-2005 0.20 0.92
06-2005 -0.48 0.10
07-2005 -0.74 -0.57
08-2005 1.04 0.85
09-2005 0.78 1.02
10-2005 0.68 1.79
11-2005 -0.95 1.40
12-2005 -0.04 0.42
01-2006 1.96 0.75
02-2006 0.26 0.22
03-2006 0.25 0.27
04-2006 1.94 1.34
05-2006 2.77 1.88
06-2006 4.02 0.34
07-2006 0.86 0.85
08-2006 -0.75 -0.44
09-2006 -0.23 1.29
10-2006 0.45 1.27
11-2006 -0.29 1.29
12-2006 -0.12 0.23
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

source: Central Bank of Turkey