Turkey's foreign direct investment close to $5B

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey received over $4.9 billion in net foreign direct investment (FDI) during the first half of 2017, Economy Ministry data released on Tuesday revealed.

Foreign investment in Turkey decreased by 8 percent during January-June period this year compared with the same period of 2016, it shows.

In the first half of the year, 2,429 new companies funded by international capital were established in Turkey while 93 domestic firms received capital from foreign participants from the wholesale, retail trade, property renting and construction sectors.

As of June, nearly 40 percent of the nearly 55,639 companies that benefited from foreign funds or participation were linked to EU states.

Financial intermediaries received the most FDI with almost $1.2 billion, followed by electricity, gas and water supply sectors -- $918 million -- between January and June.

The manufacturing industry received more than $644 million in FDI during the same period.

In June, Turkey received minus $282 million net of FDI as liquidation outflows stood around $1.52 million while direct investments were almost $1.24 billion.