Turkey to extend lottery sale tender deadline

"There is no shortage of interest from investors in the national lottery. We expect that the privatisation process will be completed successfully," he said in an interview.

Privatisation authorities had previously set deadlines of Jan. 15 for pre-qualification and Feb. 27 for bids, but Kilci said the final date for bids was being extended at the request of investors.

Turkey's privatisation process, which has made strong progress in recent years thanks to strong investors interest, has stalled as the global financial crisis undermines investor appetite.

"I am optimistic for 2009. This does not mean that I am taking this crisis lightly. We expect that there will be a relative improvement in 2009," Kilci said.

Kilci said Ankara aimed to complete the privatisation of the Baskent power distribution network in the capital Ankara this month and to complete the sell-off of the Sakarya network in northwest Turkey next month.

Further electricity distribution sale tenders would then be launched, he said.

"Our target from the beginning was to complete power distribution tenders to a large extent by the end of 2009. They may run over into 2010," Kilci said.

He also said Ankara aimed to complete bridge and motorway privatisations within 2009, or at least make significant progress by then. Those sell-offs will begin once the relevant law is passed by parliament.

Turkey will also assess whether to launch a fresh tender for the sale of sugar factories after a previous tender was cancelled in November after it failed to attract any bids.