Foreign investment in Turkey rises by third: State agency

ANKARA

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Foreign direct investment (FDI) to Turkey rose 32 percent last year on the previous year to $16.6 billion, the largest sum since the 2008 financial crisis, according to the Investment Support and Promotion Agency. 

“Some 51 percent of the country’s current account gap was financed through the FDI inflow. We saw more than $1 billion in FDI flow into Turkey on monthly basis in 2015, the largest amount since the global financial crisis,” the agency said in a written statement on Feb. 11. 

The service sector saw the greatest input of foreign capital at $6.2 billion, followed by the manufacturing and energy sectors. Spain, the United States and Luxembourg were the largest investors, followed by the Netherlands, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Russia, Britain, China and Germany. 

“Despite the long election process in the country and rising geopolitical risks, foreign investors have shown their long-term perspective about the Turkish economy by boosting their investments significantly,” said the agency’s president, Arda Ermut.       

“The country’s attractiveness in the eyes of foreign direct investors is expected to increase further in the forthcoming period with the realization of a number of reforms, which have been defined in the 64th Action Plan, and other measures to improve the investment climate,” Ermut added.