Business

The Energy and Natural Resources Ministry is preparing to launch a campaign to increase efficiency and avoid waste, while also securing the energy supply, reducing risks related to dependency on foreign resources and intensifying the fight against climate change.

The General Directorate of Electrical Power Resources Survey and Development Administration (EİE), a unit of the ministry, has prepared a draft Energy Efficiency Strategy and sent the document out for further opinions and review. The draft points out that the primary goal of the strategy is to make Turkey one of the lowest per-capita energy consuming countries, specifying a 2023 target of producing $1,000 of GDP by using 225 liters of energy, down from 282 liters in 2000.

Manipulators and speculators in Turkish capital markets will face fines in the near future, Capital Markets Board (SPK) President Vedat Akgiray has said.

Speaking at an Economic Journalists Association meeting yesterday, Akgiray noted that there are “well-known” manipulators in Turkey’s capital markets who are constantly in court over their actions. “There are well-known manipulators of Turkey’s capital markets. They go to court and are released soon after. … The thing they fear the most is losing money, so there is no other way [to curb this] than a pecuniary fine,” said Akgiray.

Clients did not stop saving money, which shows they learned to live in conditions of recession, and realized they can only survive if they have investments, said the CEO of OTP Bank Romania, Laszlo Diosi, quoted by Mediafax. According to the same source, interests to bank deposits will reach 6 pc at the end of 2010. For this year, OTP Bank plans to curb the ratio between credits and deposits, increasing the credits by an average 8 pc and the deposits by over 20 pc. Diosi considers that Romanians learned how to pay their installments and regroup their expenses. On the same occasion, he said that the bank plans to further increase its profit this year. Asked whether OTP Bank will resume the expansion of its territorial network, Diosi answered that 2010 is not a good year for investments in new units. “Until the existing facilities get used 100 pc, it is unnecessary to invest in new ones,” the OTP Bank Romania official explained.