In Brief
Central bank chief: Turkey does not need IMF rescue package VIENNA (Reuters) – Turkey’s central bank chief Durmus Yilmaz said yesterday he did not know what the outcome of Turkey’s negotiations will be with the International Monetary Fund on a loan accord. Yilmaz told Reuters on the sidelines of an economic conference in Vienna that the Turkish economy needs funds for fostering growth, making it clear that the country is not negotiating a rescue package and in need of funds. «What the outcome will be with the IMF negotiations, I don’t know. If Turkey agrees with the IMF, we are not going to agree for crisis management purposes. We would agree to get funds to enhance economic growth,» Yilmaz said. The Turkish central bank is closely involved in the talks with the IMF and the head of the central bank signs letters of intent delivered to the IMF executive board along with the economy minister. Aegean’s passenger traffic increases 10 percent in 2009 Aegean Airlines, Greece’s largest carrier by passengers, increased its passenger traffic by 10 percent in 2009, helped by strong international business, it said yesterday. Aegean, which competes with recently privatized Olympic Air, said at a presentation to Greek institutional investors that passenger traffic on domestic flights rose 2 percent last year, and 22 percent on international routes. The performance stands out against a grim outlook for the European airline sector, with the International Air Transport Association projecting a 6 percent drop in 2009 traffic, the airline said. Aegean, with 33 aircraft, has been renewing its fleet since it went public in 2007. The airline reported a 42 percent rise in nine-month net profit, helped by lower fuel costs and an expanding international network. (Reuters) Cyprus Air Cypriot national carrier Cyprus Airways said yesterday a deal to sell an aging aircraft to a charter airline in Kyrgyzstan had fallen through. The Cypriot airline had said on December 23 it signed a letter of intent with Eastok Avia to sell an A320 aircraft to the Bishkek-based carrier for $6.1 million. The sale had been canceled due to the buyers’ inability to conclude the deal, Cyprus Airways said. (Reuters) Serb rates Serbia’s central bank has room to cut interest rates further due to a benign inflation outlook and there is no reason to revise the country’s 1.5 percent economic growth forecast for 2010, the bank’s governor said yesterday. «There is definitely room to cut interest rates further, the only question is the timing and the size,» Governor Radovan Jelasic told Reuters on the sidelines a conference. He said there was no pressure on the side of inflation, which was expected to fall below the bank’s target in the first quarter. (Reuters) Serbian power Serbia’s biggest coal-fired power plant complex, which accounts for half the country’s electricity generation, will boost output in 2010 to 20.1 billion kilowatt-hours from 19.5 kWh in 2009, an official said. Upgrades over the past 10 years to increase capacity are now paying off and allowing officials at the three state-run plants some 40 kilometers from Belgrade to plan for higher production in 2010, Djordji Biljanovski, deputy manager of the three-plant complex told Reuters. (Reuters)
