European Union countries biggest investors in Türkiye

ISTANBUL

Most foreign direct investments (FDI) into Türkiye in July 2024 came from European Union (EU-27) countries, the International Investors’ Association (YASED) has said in a report, based on the latest balance of payments data.

The EU accounted for 70 percent of FDI inflows, followed by the Americas at 12 percent.

The breakdown of the FDI equity capital inflow in Türkiye showed that Germany had the largest share with 39 percent, followed by the Netherlands with 24 percent, the United States with 12 percent, Switzerland with 5 percent, and the United Kingdom with 4 percent, according to the association.

Türkiye recorded a $587 million FDI inflows via equity capital flow, $289 million through real estate sales to foreign nationals, and $306 million through debt instruments, YASED said.

“However, divestment decreased the overall FDI inflows by $2 million. Consequently, Türkiye’s total FDI inflow totaled $1.18 billion in July 2024,” it added.

With $5.9 billion in FDI during the first seven months of the year, performance was nearly identical to the same period last year, which saw $5.87 billion in FDI, YASED noted.

“Notably, real estate sales accounted for 31 percent of total FDI inflows in the first seven months of 2024,” it said.

Since 2002, cumulative FDI inflows to Türkiye have surpassed $269 billion.

In July, the sector encompassing “manufacture of chemicals, chemical products, basic pharmaceutical products and materials’’ garnered a significant share, amounting to 29 percent with an inflow totaling $168 million, according to the YASED report.

“The other leading sectors by equity capital investments included the manufacturing of computers, electronic-electrical and optical equipment [20 percent], wholesale and retail trade [14 percent] and construction [12 percent],” it said.

The share of the finance sector in FDI inflows was 2 percent in July and 31 percent in 2002-2023.

While the highest monthly portfolio inflow in 10 years occurred in July, the total inflow in the last year was 34.5 billion dollars, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek wrote on X, commenting on the latest balance of payments data.

Türkiye's current account surplus rose to $566 million in July, more than the market forecast, the Central Bank said on Sept. 12.

The figure increased from a downwardly revised $330 billion surplus in June.

For the January-July period, the current account balance registered a $16.1 billion deficit.