According to the head of the Presidential Investment Office, Ahmet Burak Dağlıoğlu, foreign direct investments in Turkey has increased significantly in the first five months of the year.
“Foreign direct investments in Turkey increased by 13 percent in the period from January to May 2021 as compared to the same period last year, reaching $3.35 billion,” said Dağlıoğlu
Futhermore, he has referred to the 20 billion Turkish lira ($2.31 billion) that Ford Otosan, a joint venture between the US carmaker and Turkey’s Koç Holding, has invested in an electric vehicle and battery manufacturing plant.
He also highlighted the investment of $375 million made by PSA International and IFM Investors for the expansion of the capacity of the international port of Mersin and for the production sites built by Chinese phone manufacturers Oppo, Xiaomi, TCL, Realme and Tecno Mobile in Turkey.
According to his statement, the $100 million invested by Italian automotive supplier Eldor in electric vehicle system manufacturing plants in İzmir also ranks as one of the significant foreign investments in the country.
The e-commerce and gaming sectors in Turkey have also received huge investments.
“Along with the increase in venture capital fund activity and investment, there has also been an increase in sectoral diversity in this area. The four Turkish startups (Peak Games, Trendyol, Getir ve Dream Games), all of which we have been closely following, have reached the unicorn benchmark,” Dağlıoğlu said, in reference to new technology companies with a market value of more than $1 billion.
Also attracting interest from foreign funds were fintech companies DgNays and Birleşik Ödeme.
According to data from Startups.watch, in the first half of this year, a total of $1.26 billion in early-stage investments were made in Turkish technology companies.
“We will keep winning investments that are instrumental in the technological transformation of our country, in creating jobs and in maintaining a balanced current account,” Dağlıoğlu said.
With regard to the food sector, he discussed the merger and acquisition agreements between the US company Kraft Heinz and Assan Gıda, the Jordanian company Siniora Food and Polonez Gıda and the U.A.E.-based Masterbaker and Arolez Gıda.
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