Turkey, exports +10.9%, imports -2.7% in 4 months Trade with European Union down
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On the back of a 2.2% increase in trade in April 2011, Turkey's exports increased by 10.9% between January and April 2012, while imports fell by 2.7%.
Over the period examined, the negative balance fell from 33.7 to 26.9 billion dollars, confirming the efficiency of government measures aimed at reducing imports and the trade deficit. Another significant variation, according to figures released by Turkey's statistics institute TUIK, is the fall in trade with the European Union, which is down from 50.5 to 47.3 billion dollars.
This figure can also be read as the result of measures being carried out by the government to diversify markets to reduce dependence on the EU market, the country's main trade partner. The EU share of total Turkish trade in the first four months of last year stood at 42%, with a total of 50.5 billion, while the figure today stands at 38.5% (47.3 billion in value). The total, which remains favourable to the EU, has fallen by 7.3% (8.6 billion in April 2011 against 7.9% in April 2012). In the list of Turkey's commercial partners, Germany is in first place with trade of 10.9 billion and a trade deficit for Turkey of 1.9 billion, ahead of Russia (10.1 billion euros and a trade deficit for Turkey of 6 billion); Iran in third (almost 7.8 billion euros and a trade deficit for Turkey of 2.5 billion); China in fourth position (7.4 billion euros and a trade deficit for Turkey of 5.8 billion) and the United States (6.7 billion euros and a trade deficit for Turkey of 2.9 billion). Italy is in sixth place, with trade worth 6.3 billion dollars and a trade deficit for Turkey of 2 billion.
Economy: Turkey to pay off IMF debts by next year
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Turkey's debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was 23.5 billion USD in 2002 due to stand-by agreements and that this debt went down to 1.7 billion USD in 2012. Turkey's debt to the IMF will be paid completely by April 2013, PM stressed addressing the participants of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia taking place under the title "Uniting Regions in Transformation" as reported by Anatolia news agency.
Trade: Turkey's exports reach 11.8 bln USD in May
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(ANSAmed) - ANKARA, JUNE 1 - Turkey's exports rose by 7.3% to 11.8 billion U.S. dollars in May 2012 compared to the same month of 2011, as Anatolia news agency reports. Turkish Assembly of Exporters (TIM) announced on Friday exports figures for May 2012 at a gathering in southern province of Antalya with participation of Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan. Exports increased by 10.31% to 59.8 billion U.S. dollars year-on-year in the first five months of 2012. The country's exports exceeded 140 billion USD in the past 12 months. (ANSAmed).
Turkey: industrial employment up in the first term of 2012
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(ANSAmed) - ANKARA, JUNE 1 - Turkey's industrial employment increased 4.6% in the first term of 2012 when compared to the same term of 2011, as Anatolia news agency reports. It remained same with the previous term of 2012, stated TurkStat, Turkey's statistical authority, on Friday. Hours worked in industry also increased 4.6% over to the same term of 2011, and 0.6% over to the previous term. Gross wages-salaries in industry increased 17.3% over to the same term of 2011, and 0.9% over to the previous term. (ANSmed).
Turkey's competitiveness higher than some EU countries, IMD
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(ANSAmed) - BRUXELLES, MAY 31 - Turkey's competitiveness is higher than some EU countries such as Spain and Italy, as Anatolia news agency reports today quoting fugures from the 2012 report of IMD (International Institute for Management Development). According to IMD, Turkey, in competitive strength, rose one step to the 38th rank by having 62.24 points. Countries such as Spain, Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Brazil, Russia and South Africa remained behind Turkey in the ranking. Hong Kong ranked the top with 100 points and followed by the US with 97.75 points and Switzerland with 96.68 points. IMD is a nonprofit business school located in Lausanne, Switzerland. (ANSAmed).
Turkey: FDI in industrial sector soar 251% in Q1
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ISTANBUL, MAY 15 - Foreign direct investments (FDI) in industrial sector in Turkey in the first quarter was up 251% over the same period a year earlier to reach nearly 2.5 billion USD, data showed as overall FDI in Q1 reached 3.9 billion USD. FDI in the sub-sectors of food, beverages and tobacco production hit a record high to increase to 1.2 billion USD in Q1 this year from 6 million USD over the same quarter in 2011, according to data from the Turkish Central Bank reported by Anatolia news agency. On monthly basis in the first quarter, FDI in the industrial sector was up 102% in March over the previous two months. FDI in services sector, however, decreased 70.5% in Q1 2012 over the same period a year earlier down at 1.4 billion USD, and the decline was mainly due to lower investments in financial and insurance sectors that saw a 86.5% drop to 596 million USD from 4.4 billion USD. Britain was the top foreign investor to inject 1.9 billion USD, which was followed by 430 million USD by the Netherlands. The lowest FDI flow in Q1 was from France with only 30 million USD, a dramatic drop from 760 million USD which made the country the third biggest foreign investor in Turkey over the same period last year.
Turkeys exports in 2012 are expected to hit at least USD 150 billion
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Following a record-breaking 2011, Turkeys exports in the new year are expected to hit at least USD 150 billion, according to the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM) President, Mehmet Buyukeksi. Turkeys 2011 exports amounted to USD 134.6 billion, 18.2 % additional than the 2010 total.
Turkey will export at least USD 150 billion worth of goods this year, Buyukeksi estimate at an assembly conference , adding that Turkeys exports in the first 25 days of January increased by 13.3 % over the same period of 2011. 2012 will be a better year than it is projected. We expect an upward revision in the Medium Term Program, he remarked.
The Medium Term Program covering 2011-2013 foresees 4 % increase for the country.
Crisis: Greece, Recapitalisation of 4 largest banks
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(ANSAmed) - ATHENS, MAY 29 - With the assigning of the first 18 billion euros of the EFSF, the recapitalisation of the four largest banks in Greece has been concluded. The banks are Ethniki Trapeza (7.43 billion euros), Trapeza Pireos (4.7 billion euros), Eurobank (3.97 billion euros) and Alpha Bank (1.9 billion euros). A Finance Ministry statement claims that in this way the banks will have the necessary funding to continue their activities as usual, fostering the real economy of the country.
Eight Turkish troops die in clashes
June 19, 2012 - 6:19PM
Eight Turkish soldiers have been killed and 16 wounded in clashes with Kurdish separatist fighters in southeast Turkey, the state news agency Anatolian reported.
The deaths occurred in an attack on Tuesday by fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on a military post at Yesiltas in the province of Hakkari, which borders the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.
Anatolian quoted the governor of Hakkari as stating that 10 of the attackers had been killed and that military operations in the region are continuing.
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Turkey, the European Union and United States consider the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, as a terrorist organisation. It has been conducting a low level guerrilla war in Turkey's predominantly southeastern provinces since the mid-1980s. For the past decade, the group has been operating mainly from bases in the mountains of the Kurdish controlled region of northern Iraq.
A similar rebel attack in the same area in late 2007, when 12 Turkish soldiers died, had triggered an eight-day incursion by the Turkish military into Iraq in February 2008. Rebels use northern Iraq as a base from where to launch attacks on Turkish troops.
Tuesday's attack came amid efforts by the government to try to reconcile with the Kurdish minority through granting more cultural rights. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently announced plans to introduce elective Kurdish lessons in schools, after allowing Kurdish language broadcasts on television.
Turkey refuses demands by Kurdish activists, rebels and politicians of full education in Kurdish, fearing that it could divide the country along ethnic lines. An estimated 20 per cent of Turkey's 75 million are Kurds.
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EU- Turkey: soon to integrate air transport says Kallas
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We want to reach as soon as possible Turkey's full integration into the EU's air transport system". This was the message sent forth by the European Commissioner for Transport, Siim Kallas, in occasion of his official visit to Ankara today, a few hours prior to the arrival of the Commissioner for Enlargement, Stefan Fule. According to Kallas this objective "will give Turkish and EU citizens more and safer connections which will also cost less".
The objective of the mission by Kallas is to increase the transport cooperation between the EU and Turkey, for this reason he has included in his talks the creation of a specific road map which includes regular high-level meetings and the start of targeted discussions with Turkish authorities. The European Commissioner added that "In these talks we focused on the future of our partnership in transport".
Priorities were set in the aviation field regarding a strengthening of ties between Turkey and the European Agency for air safety, but also progress towards the unified European airspace. The next step is for both parts to sign an agreement which will adjust all bilateral deals in the air transport field between Member States and Turkey into the current Communities' rules.
During the mission, Kallas took part in the ceremony for the start of the Irmak-Karabuk-Zonguldak rail line, the largest contract financed by the EU in Turkey (188 million euros) with the funds allocated to countries who are in the process of joining the EU. The project will consent a modernisation of cargo transport between the western Black Sea region of Turkey and Europe.
Turkey and Azerbaijan to agree on Transanatolian gas pipeline by July
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It's told by Turkey's energy minister Taner Yildiz that by the end of June Ankara will conclude an agreement with Azerbaijan to set up Transanatolian pipeline to transport gas from the Caspian state's giant Shah Deniz field.
According to Yildiz, the move would provide the consortium managing Shah Deniz gas field with sufficient assurance of a sufficient outlet for the gas to proceed with the $22 billion development of the field's second phase.
"There is now no obstacle to the Shah Deniz project," he said.
European Union officials have hoped that a bigger pipeline, named Nabucco, would take the gas more than 3,000km into the heart of Europe and, at a later stage, also transport gas from Turkmenistan, so providing substantial alternative supplies to Russian gas.
"It would not be appropriate to say that this project is over, but its concept and title will be changed," Mr Yildiz said of Nabucco, adding that the project would probably survive as "Nabucco West" - a smaller, shorter pipeline, widely thought likely to begin at the Bulgarian-Turkish border rather than in Azerbaijan.
"In the end I believe whatever the name of the project is, it is more important that it is do-able," Mr Yildiz said in an interview.
His comments follow an announcement last month by Viktor Orb¨˘n, Hungary's prime minister, that Mol, the Hungarian oil and gas company, was pulling out of the Nabucco consortium. Mr Orb¨˘n said Nabucco was "in trouble", largely because of a rival pipeline promoted by Russia. Other companies in the Nabucco consortium, which include RWE of Germany and OMV of Austria, have already floated the idea of the slimmed down Nabucco west scheme.
Earlier, Azerbaijan and Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the consortium that will build the Trans Anadolu Pipeline (TANAP) for supply of gas from Shah Deniz gas field to Europe through Turkey.
The initial capacity of the pipeline will be 16 billion cubic meters. Some 6 billion cubic meters of the volume will be allocated to Turkey, while the rest will be transported to Europe.
The second stage of development of the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field will be launched by late 2017. Gas reserves of this field are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters.
The contract to develop Shah Deniz was signed June 4, 1996. Participants are BP (operator) - 25.5 percent, Statoil - 25.5 percent, NICO - 10 percent, Total - 10 percent, Lukoil - 10 percent, TPAO - 9 percent, and SOCAR - 10 percent.
Turkey: Saudi businessman to invest 2 billion USD in Bursa
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Saudi businessman Mohammed Shaman al-Mugherah is set to invest 2 billion US dollars in northwestern of Bursa, in Turkey, as local media reported.
Al-Mugherah requested one million square meters land to build an enormous complex and thermal resorts and 100,000 square meters to construct an automotive spare parts factory. Sahabettin Harput, the Governor of Bursa, said that there were plenty of foreign companies planning to make investments in Bursa. "We will release the development to the public in the coming days.
All those kind of investments are beneficial for Bursa's economy," stated Harput.
Serbia-Turkey: cooperation in textile industry
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(ANSAmed) - BELGRADE, MAY 29 - Turkey views Serbia as its strategic and economic partner on the EU pathway, it was said Tuesday at a business forum dubbed 'Serbia's textile industry - chance for Serbia-Turkey strategic cooperation'.
The economic ties between the two countries were on an increase in the previous years, and the textile industry can be a great chance for the strategic cooperation between Serbia and Turkey, it was underlined in the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (PKS). Minister without Portfolio Sulejman Ugljanin underlined that investments and joint production for the third markets are the backbone of the future cooperation between Serbian and Turkish businessmen.
Ugljanin recalled that Serbia and Turkey signed a number of economic agreements, including the Free Trade Agreement, whose enforcement provided a considerable boost to the exchange of goods and Serbian export. Turkish Ambassador to Serbia Ali Riza Colak said that these agreements are the basis of cooperation, but that the level of bureaucracy should be reduced in order for the companies to do business more easily.
Turkey is the fourth world power in textile production, and this branch makes up 25 percent of the country's total export.
According to the PKS data, Turkey is one of Serbia's vital trade partners, and the two countries' exchange has recorded a continuous growth in the last 10 years, with a deficit on the Serbian side.
Xi calls for boosting trade with Turkey
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Visiting Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping called here on Wednesday for additional efforts in boosting trade and economic cooperation between China and Turkey.
Xi made the call when addressing a Sino-Turkish business forum in Istanbul. This is the final major event for Xi's remain in Turkey and for his three-country tour.
In his speech, Xi told hundreds of business leaders from China and Turkey that efforts should be made in aspects in elevating bilateral economic cooperation, namely, to increase political trust, to explore additional cooperation fields and deepen substantial cooperation, to join hands to reject trade protectionism and to enhance cultural exchange and people-to-people communication.
On the sideline of Xi's visit, a Chinese trade and investment promotion delegation consisting of over 100 Chinese business leaders signed various contracts and deals worth some $4.3 billion, part which deals concerning purchasing goods in Turkey are worth $490 million.
China has become Turkey's third biggest trading partner. According to statistics from the Chinese side, the trade volume between China and Turkey increased from some $1 billion in 2001 to nearly $19 billion in 2011, up some 18 times. The Turkish side said the bilateral trade volume hit $24.1 billion in 2011.
Since 2001, Chinese companies have signed with the Turkish side project-contracting deals worth over $10 billion, part which the construction of the Ankara-Istanbul high-speed railway is the biggest joint project.
Xi said his current visit was aimed to deepen Sino-Turkish traditional friendship, to consolidate and elevate Sino-Turkish strategic cooperative relations and to advance the bilateral economic cooperation into a new stage.
Xi arrived in Turkey on Monday evening for an official visit at the invitation of Turkish President Abdullah Gul.
Before on Tuesday, Xi held talks with President Gul and met with Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek in Ankara. He flew to Istanbul on Tuesday afternoon and met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Xi is scheduled to wrap up his 10-day visits to the United States, Ireland and Turkey and leave for China later on Wednesday.
Moody's raises Turkey rating by one notch, outlook position
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SYDNEY, June 20 | Wed Jun 20, 2012 1:40am EDT
(Reuters) - Moody's Investors Service on Wednesday raised Turkey's government bond ratings by one notch to Ba1 from Ba2, and maintained its positive outlook on the country.
The agency cited a significant improvement in Turkey's public finances and the resulting increased shock-absorption capacity of the government's balance sheet.
It also noted policy actions that have the potential to address external imbalances, such as the large current account deficit, which is the largest credit risk facing the country.
"Looking ahead, an upgrade to an investment-grade rating will probably be dependent on Turkey becoming more resilient to balance-of-payment shocks, given the already favourable public-finance metrics," Moody's said in a statement.
^^ Thank you Ozgur
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Turkey aims to make more use of renewable energy resources by 2023, according to a research of Energy and Natural Resources Ministry. Turkey, which continues efforts to construct nuclear power plant, aims to use 36,000 MW hydroelectric, 20,000 MW wind, 3,000 MW solar, 600 MW geothermal, 2,000 MW biomass energy by 2023. Thus, Turkey aims to raise its 53.3 MW energy to 61,600 MW by 2023. Turkey can produce 229.9 billion kWh electricity p.a. in such a case.
Turkey's renewable energy resource potential is around 136,600 MW. However, Turkey uses only 13.6 percent of its domestic renewable energy resources.
The country's electricity consumption reached 229.3 billion kWh in 2011, and this figure is expected to reach 500 billion kWh by 2023. This means that Turkey can only meet half of its consumption only if it uses all its hydroelectric, wind, solar, geothermal and biomass potential.
According to Electricity Energy Market and Supply Safety Strategy Document, Turkey aims to drop natural gas' share in electricity production to 30 percent but raise renewable energy resource share to 30 percent by 2023.
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