Turkey
Albaraka Türk Katılım Bankası, a Turkish Islamic lender, has mandated its head office to arrange the issuance of a US$400mn sukuk offshore.
Turkey tourism sector is finally shows signs of recovery, with revenues up in the second quarter by 8.7% to US$5.41bn, compared to the same period in 2016, the FT reported. Tourist numbers to Turkey plunged to their worst levels since 1999 last April as Russian visitors stayed away from the country following a diplomatic spat between Ankara and Moscow.
Turkey's Eximbank signed a US$640mn syndicated loan this week, the lender's CEO announced. The transaction saw participation from 23 different lenders in 11 countries. The bank has not confirmed the tenor.
The President of the European Investment Bank has voiced concerns over a slowdown in the development of Turkish projects, in part due to political volatility in the country, according to an interview with the Luxemburger Wort. "Projects are thoroughly checked for technical, economic and financial sustainability. In view of these recent developments, the assessment process in Turkey takes longer nowadays than it would have taken five years ago, and more dimensions have to be scrutinised. I believe that, at the end of 2017, the volume in Turkey will be lower than in the years before," EIB President Werner Hoyer said. The EIB has been steadily investing in Turkey for 50 years, and has invested in a number of large flagship projects there including the Bospherus Tunnel and the TERRA programmes, and actively lends to a number of local banks in support of further SME on-lending. "The EIB is market-orientated, and we are also politically aware and sensitive, and we are seeing the political development in Turkey with great concern. This development might harm or endanger the further economic upswings of Turkey."
Turkish conglomerate Doğuş Holding placed a TRY350mn 4-year bond in international markets this week. The EBRD was one of the main anchor investors on the transaction, picking up TRY100mn of the floating-rate notes.
Turkey has joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a 'sectorial dialogue partner', the organisation announced. Turkey, which applied to the regional bloc in 2015, will work to improve bilateral trade relations with the organisation's ten members and help expose Turkish businesses to the region.
Bank lending in Turkey could grow between 16-18% annually by the end of 2017, according to the Turkish Banks Association. Ekrem Keskin, the general secretary of the organisation, that loan growth had already doubled in the first half of this year, compared with the same period in 2016. The country's lenders have faced strong political pressure to boost lending in the country as the economy continues to stagnate, but lenders are being hamstrung by political pressure to keep interest rates low, particularly for mortgages, making it difficult for many banks to lend to riskier projects