Turkish businessmen reassure Romanian community after Turkey crisis

In the aftermath of the Turkey coup attempt, six associations of Turkish businessmen in Romania and the Turkish-Romanian Chamber of Commerce condemned Tuesday the action as an illegal act, performed against democracy. Moreover, they stated that Romanians conducting business with Turkey can continue to do so in conditions of total safety.

According to data released by the National Bank of Romania (BNR), Turkey’s direct investments in Romania represent less than 1 pct of the total FDI, which stands at EUR 60, 2 billion.

Turkey – Romania’s main non-EU import destination in 2015

As the main non-EU import destination in 2015, Turkey is an important trade partner for Romania. Data published by the Turkish Embassy shows that, in the third semester of 2015, the value of bilateral trade between Romania and Turkey totaled EUR 3,331 million, up by 3 percent year-on-year. The trade balance was positive for Romania, and stood at EUR 12 million. Turkey is Romania’s fifth trading partner as far as exports are concerned, with EUR 1,672 million, and ninth when it comes to imports.

In 2014, the value of trade between Romania and Turkey totaled EUR 4.3 billion. Romanian exports stood at EUR 2.23 billion, and Turkish imports stood at EUR 1.95 billion. The trade balance was positive for Romania, with USD 544.3 million. Overall, in 2014 Turkey was the 5^th export destination and 11^th import destination.

Romania hosts around 14,000 companies with Turkish capital

On 31 December 2014 there were registered in Romania 13,929 companies with Turkish capital. The share capital stood at USD 739, 5 million, representing 1.36 of the total capital subscribed by foreign investors. In terms of the share capital, for the period between 1991 – December 2014, Turkey ranks 14^th considered by countries of residence of investors in social companies with foreign capital and third in terms of the countries of residence, considered by the number of companies registered in Romania.

According to statistics, total investments of Turkish companies in Romania, direct and indirect (made via companies registered in other countries) exceed the sum of EUR 4 billion.

The list of businesses with Turkish capital in Romania includes Praktiker, Garanti Bank, Euroweb, Rostar and Arctic. In Romania, the international hypermarket chain Praktiker chain consists of 27 stores, owned by Romanian citizen of Turkish origin Omer Susli. Susli purchased the stores from German group Praktiker AG through his company Search Chemicals and announced expansion plans to 40 cities. The stores recorded sales of RON 607 million in 2015.

Garanti Bank, owned by Turkey’s largest bank in terms of market capitalization, is the 10^th bank in the Romanian banking system. Garanti Group Romania, consisting of Garanti Bank, Garanti Leasing and Garanti Consumer Finance, is owned by the Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS (TGB), Turkey’s largest private bank in terms of market capitalization. Last year, Garanti Bank posted a net profit of RON 65.3 million, while deposits reached a total of RON 5.73 billion, marking a 40 percent increase year-on-year, while the overall loans volume was RON 6.74 billion in 2015, marking a 15.7 percent increase year-on-year. The bank’s corporate loans registered the biggest increase, namely 28 percent, while SME lending increased by 8.6 percent, while retail lending by 10.8 percent.

Euroweb, the Turkish subsidiary of Turk Telekom, operates 2,000 km of optic fiber and offers access to the metropolitan networks in all large cities such as Bucharest, Timisoara, Suceava, Brasov, targu-Mures, Sibiu, Constanta, Craiova, Oradea and more.