With nothing good to talk about these days on the global front, the question needs to be asked, "Who are going to be the last ones standing?" Lehman bankrupt, Merrill Lynch helped out by Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and WAMU looking for buyers, the US bailouts of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and now AIG - these past weeks have left everyone in awe of the historical proportions. Historic in the sense that the government is stepping in and stewarding companies - historic in the sense that the government has put a hold on all short selling - historic in the sense that people are drawing comparisons and even mentioning the Great Depression! You have to ask yourself, when was the last time any of this happened before? Next we need to ask, "Who is to blame?" Is it the simple prudent investor who couldn't pay his morgage? Is it the lender who kept adding the tightly-wound-up deals to the portfolio? Is it the leveraging of that risk to others that maintained the confidence? Somewhere the fundamentals told us to take an extra step and put an extra risk-free card on this house of cards.
So I figured I would revert this post to somewhat of a newsletter format to let the reader browse and drill down through the applicable and relevant news regarding Turkey. News is provided courtesy of the Turkish Daily News. Here goes:
Turkish economic growth slumps to slowest in six years
Turkey's economy grew at the slowest pace since the country emerged from a recession six years ago as higher interest rates and the threat of political instability hurt consumer spending. Gross domestic product growth slowed to 1.9 percent from a revised 6.7 percent in the previous quarter, the state statistics office in Ankara said yesterday. The pace of growth in the European Union membership candidate slowed as the global credit squeeze damped demand in export markets and the Central Bank added to the cost of borrowing.
Corio cancels $1 billion-worth of investment in Turkey
Corio NV, the largest Dutch developer, will drop plans to develop $1 billion-worth of shopping malls in central and eastern Turkey, and focus instead on the country's biggest cities.
R&D spending puts Turkey on the map
Turkey ranks 25th out of the world's 41 highest-spending countries on research and development, a recent report revealed.
Urla to have its Silicon Valley
İzmir's Urla district is about to become a leading spot for Turkey's technological developments, as a French firm, CICOM, which supports technology zones in different countries, signs a contract with the Institute of High Technology to make 4 billion worth investment.
Tekfen sells 50 percent share to Palmali-Socar
The partnership between the Azerbaijani Palmali Company and Azerbaijan's State Oil Company, or Socar, has bought 50 percent of the construction arm of Tekfen Holding A.Ş., a Turkish builder and power generator, for $520 million.
Turkish businesses on alert over global crisis
The United States credit crisis, which is having an increasing impact upon the global financial community with each day, has recently become a top priority on the Turkish business world's agenda. As the U.S.-born crisis spreads through Europe, officials are also keeping a close eye on the Istanbul Stock Exchange, which has lost approximately 15 percent of its value in the last five days.
Labels: CICOM, Corio, R and D, Technology Parks, Tekfen
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Publisher: Jon H. Black
