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1 May 2003 – According to a Reuters report, Turkish Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan said he
would soon announce a plan to privatise
Turk Telekom. Officials in Turkey's privatisation
administration were working on such plans.
Referring to the privatisation, Unakitan said, "the work will start this
year, however it may end some time in 2004."
He said that one possible method for the privatisation
was a convertible bond, a scheme that was used for privatisations
in Greece and France.
The privatisation of
Turk Telekom has been delayed a number of times, not only by the AK Party
government, of which Unakitan is a key member, but also by Turkey's previous
government, a three-party coalition which governed until November 2002.
Turkey's April 19 letter of intent detailing its latest promises to the
International Monetary Fund said that the Turk Telekom plan would be published
before the end of April. The IMF has pledged US$ 16 billion to Turkey in order
to help the country escape its worst recession since the second world war,
triggered in 2001 when its previous IMF programme collapsed.
Bankers at Citgroup, said that there was a "huge interest" in the
strategic stakes on sale, despite the depressed state of developed world equity
markets.
Intelecon Research & Consultancy Ltd. 01/05/2003
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WDR
/ Intelecon Regulatory News
