Turkish Statistical Institution has revealed that Turkey’s tourism revenues wnet up toUS$5 billion in the first quarter of the year, with a 38.6 percent increase on the previous year. It reported that this promising development is due to the increase in tourist numbers by 18.7 percent, surpassing 5 million in total in three months. Revenues have surged due to a sharp increase in tourists as well as their in ...

Industrial Turnover Index in February 2013 increased by 4.9% compared with the same month in previous year. In the sub sectors level of industry, mining and quarrying index decreased by 4.2%, manufacturing index increased by 5.3% in February 2013 compared with same month of the previous year. Industrial Turnover Index and the Rate of Change (2010=100), February 2013 According to Main Industrial Groupings (M ...

Turkey has received long awaited good news from Standard & Poor's that has raised the country’s credit rating from BB to BB+. Standard Poor said in its statement that Turkey was in the process of rebalancing its economy and the floating rate policy, the prudential limit on foreign loans and the deepening of the local capital market induced higher resistance to potential capital flows. The agency also re ...

Turkey which is on the eve of  undertaking huge energy investments to include nuclear, is reported to have  increased its installed electricity capacity to 58,000 MW by adding a capacity nearly 5,000 MW every year in the last five years. This fact was announced by Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) President Hasan Köktaş yesterday. Mr. KOKTAS said at a press event Turkey’s electricity consumption had ...

Turkey uses 1 percent of global energy, gas consumption jumps Turkey consumes 1 percent of the world's total energy and 1.4 percent of its natural gas, according to a benchmark annual report by BP. The country's overall energy consumption increased 9.2 percent last year from 2010, while its oil consumption rose 5.8 percent to 32 million tons, or 0.8 percent of global consumption, the report said. Turkey's g ...

Due to an increasing number of reported police brutality cases, the Progressive Lawyers’ Association is establishing a telephone hotline for victims of police violence called “İmdat Polis” (Help! Police!). The hotline’s number, 444 155 9, is inspired by Turkey’s emergency police contact number, 155. Members of the Progressive Lawyers’ Association, including lawyers Taylan Tanay and Efkan Bolaç, whose client ...

Turkish-Egyptian trade volume up 19 percent Turkish-Egyptian trade volume is expected to increase by 19 percent in 2012, reaching a figure of $5 billion, chairman of the Turkish-Egyptian Businessmen’s Association (TUMİAD), Zeki Ekinci has said. “Turkish commercial investments in Egypt reached $1.5 billion in 2012. We expect the trade volume to be $5 billion in five years,” Ekinci said, speaking to Anatolia ...

There are 12.2 million housewives in Turkey as of March 2011, a survey finds as the number of women describing themselves as homemakers witnesses a large increase Of the 868,000 people left out of the workforce, nearly half, or close to 500,000 described themselves as housewives. Hürriyet photoSome 496,000 more women described themselves as housewives in March 2012 as opposed to the same period in the previ ...

OECD releases 2012 Turkey reports The Organization for Economic and Cooperation and Development (OECD) praised the structural and macroeconomic policies of Turkey in its 2012 Turkey report. The report says that Turkey's economy rebounded vigorously following the global crisis, adding, "The growth averaged close to 9 percent in 2010-11, with strong job creation. At the same time, the current account deficit ...

Turkey has established a "Turkey Cruise Ship Platform" consisting of 13 port cities in an attempt to secure a larger slice of the global tourism pie. The cruise industry is growing, and Turkey needs to grab a larger share of the market, Izmir Chamber of Trade (IZTO) Chair Ekrem Demirtas said at a recent forum. "In 2003, only ships that had lost their way would come to Izmir, but last year Izmir hosted 504,0 ...

Turkey drew $15.9 billion in direct international investment in 2011, according to the World Investment Report issued by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) yesterday. The investments increased 75.7 percent when compared to 2010, said Secretary-General Ozlem Ozyigit of the International Investors Association of Turkey (YASED). YASED discloses the report in Turkey on behalf of UNC ...

Coasts await foreign buyers Due to a major shift in Turkish law that regulates land sales to foreigners, more buyers and tourists from the US, Gulf and Arab nations are expected. An official ad campaign may also help boost land sales and tourism With the approval of new legislation last week regulating the sale of Turkish land to foreigners, tourism centers like Alanya, Didim, Fethiye and Kuşadası have rece ...

Turkish FDI rise 25 pct in 2 months The flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Turkey increased 25 percent to $1.7 billion during the first two months of the year compared with the same period last year, Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan said May 4. Investments constitute the cornerstone of government policy on maintaining economic development, sustainability of growth and improving the national develop ...

Turkey’s industrial production index climbed 4.4 percent in February, figures show. Some analysts call it a sign of soft landing, while others draw attention to the role of base effect. The energy, chemical and textile sectors posted strong performance, professionals note. The data is proof of stability, according to the industry minister An unidentified employee is seen working at a chemical dye plant in t ...

Atatürk Airport to raise capacity with runway Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport, the largest in the country, is nearing its capacity limits.A fourth runway is planned to double the capacity of Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport, meeting estimated demand for the next 10 years, according to daily Hürriyet. The State Airports Authority started working on the project after Turkish Airlines requested a new runway. The project, ...

Caglayan expresses hope to increase bilateral trade volume with Iran Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan, who is currently in Tehran as part of a delegation accompanying Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, made assessments yesterday with regard to Turkey's commercial ties with Iran following the welcoming ceremony at Sadabad Palace. "Besides preferential trade, we will be holding contacts about promoting and i ...

With a third gas price hike in one month, Turkey’s gas prices have seen an 8.5 jump year-to-date. The price hikes could raise natural gas and electricity prices Gas prices in Turkey were hiked yesterday for the third time in just one month, resulting in about an 8.5 percent price jump for the year to date, as oil prices rise due to changes in lira to dollar exchange rates, political uncertainties and instab ...

Turkey increases its purchasing power According to the Purchasing Power Parity covering 37 countries, which was conducted in cooperation by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), EUROSTAT and OECD, the volume index per person in Turkey which totaled 47 points in 2008 and 46 points in 2009 increased to 49 points in 2010. Turkey’s income has amounted to 42 percent of the average in EU 27 in 2007. According ...

Residential sales in Istanbul are steadily increasing as more foreign nationals and firms migrate to Istanbul, Turkey’s financial and cultural center. More foreign nationals and firms generating prospects for strong demand and urban transformation projects are causing an increase in home sales in Istanbul, according to a monthly report issued by a construction association. “The prospect of projects aiming t ...

Turkish chemical sector's exports up Chemical sector's exports increased 21.73 percent to 1.3 billion USD in February 2012 when compared to February 2011. Chemical sector became the second sector which made the highest export of Turkey after automotive sector, according to Istanbul Chemical Materials & Products Exporters' Association. The export of the sector sector rose to 2.7 billion USD in January-Fe ...

Foreign investments in the real estate sector in Turkey have reached 2 billion U.S. dollars in 2011. According to data from International Direct Investment Bulletin gathered by AA correspondent, Turkey attracted 15.7 billion U.S. dollars of foreign direct investment in 2011. Flow of foreign direct investment in Turkey has increased 74 percent between January and December 2011 when compared to the same perio ...

Milk production over 7 mln tons in Turkey Turkey produced more than 7 million tons of milk in 2011, the statistics authority, TurkStat, said on Friday. TurkStat made public milk production statistics in December 2011, and said milk production was up 4.9 percent year-on-year in 2011 and reached 7,073,739 tons. Turkey had produced 6,745,011 tons of milk in 2010. The statistics authority said drinking milk pro ...

Turkey has taken some remarkably giant steps in the tourism industry to become one of the major destinations in Europe and the World, in recent years. Among factors that have contributed to this outstanding success we can name increase in number of beds, improvement in service quality and certainly a much better marketing effort. Then again Turks have gained much more experience in their relations with fore ...