Minister heralds large investments

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

Turkey’s Industry Minister Nihat Ergun says the country will attract large petrochemical and automotive investments. AA photo

Turkey is planning to attract more than $1 billion in foreign investments in both the petrochemical and automotive sectors, Science, Technology and Industry Minister Nihat Ergün has said.

Despite the ongoing eurozone crisis and regional turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa, the country will continue to attract high amounts of direct investments next year, Ergün said during a speech yesterday at the Industry Congress organized by the Istanbul Chamber of Industry (İSO) in Istanbul.

“There will be two major investments in Turkey in next year,” Ergün said. “The world’s leading financial sources are in search of new places to make investments.”

‘Imports slowed down’
Through government measures, Turkey managed to slow down the acceleration of imports, the minister said. Turkey’s imports rose by 7 percent while exports increased by 10 percent in the third quarter this year compared with the previous quarter.

The country’s medium-term program has showed its efficiency in efforts to control the country’s current account deficit problem, he said.

“We will take more steps forward in controlling the current account gap. Turkey should be pleased with the growth,” Ergün said about the country’s surprising third-quarter growth.

Turkey’s official statistics institute (TÜİK) announced earlier this week that the gross domestic product growth in the third quarter stood at 8.2 percent.

“If there were no demand, the country’s production would not be at that level. Yet, we keep exporting and growing,” Ergün said.

Turkey will not grow as fast as last year and this year in 2012, but will still manage to “reach 4 percent GDP growth by the end of next year as planned in the medium-term program,” Ergün said.