Turkey Wealth Fund (TWF) has announced that it will make oil refining and petrochemical investments in order to decrease the foreign trade deficit. Work has begun identifying a location in Iskenderun for the USD 8bn investment. The Parliament’s Planning and Budget Commission discussed the audit report of TWF’s financial statements and activities for 2019. The value of companies under the umbrella of the Fund will be announced this year after the calculation of the Independent Supervisory Board, according to Zafer Sonmez, General Manager of TWF.
Around 50% of the Istanbul Finance Center’s (IFC) construction has been completed with the projected date set for the middle of 2022. Meanwhile, the relevant legislative proposal will be submitted to the Parliament in the near future in coordination with the Finance Office of the Presidency and the Ministry of Treasury and Finance. “There are certain incentives in London and Dubai today and these incentives have been created within the frame of the law,” said Sonmez during the presentation made to the Commission. “We need to set up a certain infrastructure. You can’t open the IFC without preparing this legal infrastructure.”
On average, the petrochemical industry accounts for USD 17bn in imports every year and TWF works on a of cluster projects to reduce foreign dependency, according to Sonmez.
In other TWF news, Turkcell, in which the TWF has a small share, has numerous lawsuits pending against it which is why general assemblies can’t be convened and dividend can’t be paid, precipitating a loss in investor confidence, according to Sonmez. Thus, a transparent structure has created following TWF’s acquisition of a 15% of stake in the company.
TWF sold 10% of shares in Borsa Istanbul to the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) for USD 200m on November 30 last year. The USD -weighted return reached 63% and an income of USD 77.5m was generated by the transaction, Sonmez said.
PRIZE RATE INCREASED BY 59% IN THE NATIONAL LOTTERY
The TWF raised the National Lottery prize to 59%, turnover increased to TRY 2.9bn from TRY 1.5bn and the public’s share rose to TRY 1.78bn from TRY 734m, according to Sonmez. Moreover, the prize amount distributed to citizens has also been raised. Accordingly, the distributed prize amount increased to TRY 1.34bn from TRY 900m. When a TRY 100 worth lottery ticket is sold, its money goes to the TWF, according to Sonmez. “All revenues are collected in the fund and prizes are paid by the fund,” he said during his presentation.
Total assets amount to nearly TRY 1.5tr and TWF has a debt of EUR 1bn, according to Sonmez. That’s why the TWF is conducting an audit of Fund companies’ portfolio values for this year.