NEWS SCAN for Turkey – Nov 1st, 2013
Down below you will find a summary of topics from major Turkish papers and internet sites
Multinationals meet in Istanbul for investment
Top representatives of a number of multinationals have attended the eighth meeting of the Investment Advisory Council of Turkey to discuss investment climate of the country with politicians The meeting was held yesterday to discuss what Turkey offers to direct investors and how to improve the country’s investment climate with the attendance of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Deputy PM Ali Babacan, as well as the heads of Turkey’s leading business organizations. A-levels of a number of large companies, which post over $572 billion of revenue in total of 12 different countries, have attended the eighth meeting.
In his speech to the companies’ high representatives, which employ around 1.4 million people worldwide, from France’s Alstom and Japan’s Hitachi to the U.S.-based Citigroup and German E.ON. PM Erdoğan said “Turkey’s exports to its neighbors were only approximately $9 billion in 2002, but are now jumping to over $49 billion. Thanks to the government’s stability-based policies, Turkey has become a center of attraction for investors in the region” noting that the amount of direct investment to Turkey had increased to $145 billion at the end of August 2013 from approximately $15 billion in 2002.
Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan said “Many big companies were interested in investing in Turkish economy, as Turkey plans to make over $250 billion through investment in energy, transportation, information technologies, among others, by 2023,”.
HURRIYET DAILY NEWS
September foreign trade deficit at $ 7.5 billion
Turkey’s trade deficit widened by 7.6 % and totaled $7.5 billion in September in line with the forecasts. According to data on provisional foreign trade figures provided by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat), exports rose by 1.3% to reach $13.12 billion and imports rose by 3.5% to climb to $ 20.6 billion in September. Turkey’s energy import bill fell by 5.8% to $4.9 billion in September and declined by 7.3% to $41.4 billion in the first nine months of the year. On a calendar adjusted basis, exports recorded an increase by 1.3% and imports were down by 0.2% over the same month of the previous year whereas the seasonally and calendar adjusted exports rose by 2.7% and imports rose by 3% in September compared to the previous month. Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan noted the rise in the gold and precious metal imports contributed to the widening of current deficit.
DUNYA.COM
Pentagon’s visit to Ankara
A delegation among which officials from the United States Department of Defense (the Pentagon) was reportedly to be present is paying a visit to Ankara. The American delegation will discuss the US’s sensibility on Turkey’s long debated collaboration with China in Turkey’s air defense missile system. The US delegation is expected to have official talks with officials from the Turkish Ministry of Defense. James Miller, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, and Victoria Nuland, Spokesperson for the United States Department of State, will also reportedly engage in tête-à-têtes primarily on the Syria issue, mutual defense relations and regional issues before Geneva 2. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is expected to pay a visit to Washington on Nov. 18.
DUNYA.COM
Turkey says won’t import energy from Iraq without Baghdad’s approval
Turkey will not import energy from Iraq without the approval of the federal government in Baghdad, aware of its concerns after the autonomous Kurdish region said it would build a second oil pipeline to Turkey, Energy Minister Taner Yıldız said on Friday. Kurdish-built pipelines, by offering a route to Western markets that bypasses national infrastructure, may encourage northern Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to seek greater independence from Baghdad, with which it has been at loggerheads over oil-production contracts and revenue sharing.
“Turkey is aware of Iraq’s concerns… and has given its guarantee that it will not permit any kind of oil shipments without the approval of the federal government in Baghdad,” Yıldız told reporters, adding Turkey did not want to violate its existing energy agreements with Baghdad.
The KRG has been shipping small amounts of crude to Turkey overland by truck since 2012. Baghdad has repeatedly warned any Turkish deals with the hydrocarbons-rich KRG may breach its agreements with Iraq. A pipeline built by the KRG is already complete and is being tested before it begins carrying oil in early 2014.
TODAYS ZAMAN
Turkey ‘open’ to updated offers for anti-missile project
Defense officials have said the country is open to new offers from other companies for contract discussions on a long-range missile defense system, even though Ankara controversially selected a Chinese firm for the project on Sept. 26.
“The process has just started. If the second and third [companies in the list] send their [new] offers to us, that will be useful through the discussion phases with the current one. Everybody is free to send a last offer,” Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz told reporters yesterday. There was no problem with the current talks, the minister said, when asked about the discussions with the Chinese company with whom Turkey agreed to jointly produce the systems. China Precision Machinery Export-Import Corp (CPMIEC) beat competition from a U.S. partnership of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin and a European Italian-French consortium in the tender, but NATO officials have expressed concern that Turkey’s selection of the company could mean sensitive data will be shared with a non-alliance member.
Yılmaz also confirmed that the amendment in legislation paved the way for a top commander to appoint a political consultant for himself who will be in charge only during the commander’s term. “The chief of General Staff would be able to appoint any adviser regarding any issue, whether NATO, politicians or technical issues,” he said, adding that the top commander of the military would also be able to assign a civil media consultant.
HURRIYET DAILY NEWS
Turkey’s central bank raises inflation forecast, maintaining tight policy pledge
The Turkish Central Bank has revised its inflation forecast for the year-end upwards in its quarterly inflation report, while vowing to keep its inflation-prioritized monetary policy tight and predictable.
The bank, as expected, forecasted the inflation to edge up to 6.8 percent at the end of 2013, and 5.3 percent at the end of 2014, at higher levels than its previous forecasts of 6.2 and 5 percent respectively.
During the news conference held to present its quarterly inflation report, Governor Erdem Başçı said, “Currently the course of core and headline inflation is much higher than the target of 5 percent. Therefore, don’t expect an easing of monetary policy until we approach the inflation target, and even achieve it.”
The Turkish inflation proceeds above expectations, particularly as of the second quarter, mainly due to the devaluation of Turkish Lira, which was hit harshly when the United States’ central bank Federal Reserve signaled it may taper off its monetary easing.
HURRIYET DAILY NEWS
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compiled by Editor BTT,
We do not verify above stories neither do we vouch for their accuracy.
