Foreign direct investment inflow to Turkey falls 23 pct this year

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

HÜRRİYET photo

Turkey received $570 million in foreign direct investment (FDI) in April, down from $911 million in April last year, according to data released by the Economy Ministry on June 22.

Foreign investments in Turkey also only reached $4 billion in the first four months of 2015, marking a 23 percent decrease from the $5.2 billion invested in the same period last year.

The energy sector saw the most FDI in the January to April period, more than $1.1 billion, followed by the manufacturing sector with $447 million.

The ministry data showed that 42 percent of capital inflow, almost $1.3 billion, came from the European Union and 29 percent of investments came from Asian countries such as China and South Korea.

The data also indicated that 1,462 foreign-funded new companies were established in the first four months of the year, down from the 1,510 firms registered in the same period last year, a decrease of 3.3 percent.

As of April 2015 a total of 43,676 companies operate in Turkey with international capital, with 26,136 of them operating in Istanbul.

Antalya followed Istanbul with 4,536 companies.

The report said that of the total number of foreign-funded companies in Turkey, 6,191 were German-funded and 2,809 were financed by investors in the U.K.

The ministry also announced that 15,509 foreign companies were in the wholesale and retail market, 5,874 in manufacturing and 3,882 in the construction sector.