FDI in Turkey rose almost 10% in the first eight months of 2014, reaching $8.6bn, compared with $7.9bn in the same period last year, according to the country’s ministry of the economy. Ministry figures also revealed that more than half of capital inflows originated from the EU, with Germany and the UK financing 15.0% and 6.7%, respectively of the companies operating with international capital in Turkey. The near and Middle East region accounted for the second highest number of companies, representing 26% of the total.

“Foreign capital is very important to us,” Nihat Zeybekci, Turkey's minister of economic affairs, said at the International Investors Association Of Turkey conference in October. He explained that investment inflows are necessary to achieve the country's 5% average GDP growth target, especially given the country’s current low savings ratio.

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The ministry of economy issued $98.8m-worth of incentive certificates in August, increasing the number of certificated investment projects by 26, and reaching a total of 169 projects for the first eight months of the year, with a total valuation of $3.6bn. The manufacturing industry had the highest percentage of certificates at 72%, followed by the service sector with 14%.

“More than anything, [foreign investment growth] is due to government focus on attracting FDI, as a part of the ambitious plan to make Turkey one of 10 world's largest economies by 2023, the centennial of the Turkish Republic," said Pelin Baysal, commercial and corporate law partner at Mehmet Gun & Partners in Istanbul. 

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