By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

Turkey attracted some $3.1 billion in net international direct investment from January to April, the Ministry of Economy announced Thursday.

In the first four months of 2018, the sum of net foreign direct investment (FDI) recorded a 21.9 percent yearly decline from some $3.9 billion in the same period of 2017.

According to the official data, the amount of net FDI the country received was $609 million in January, $467 million in February, more than $1 billion in March, and $863 million in April.

As the leading item on the overseas direct investment account, equity investment direct inflow to Turkey was around $1.7 billion. The European Union (EU) was the main origin of this amount with a share of 63.4 percent.

Austria ($316 million), the Netherlands ($229 million) and the U.K. ($94 million) were the top three European sources of direct capital inflow in the four-month period.

"In January-April this year, $638 million of the total equity capital entry was in the energy sector," the ministry said and added that it was followed by the manufacturing sector with $371 million and the financial intermediation sector with $161 million.

Including 18 branch offices, a total of 2,344 new foreign-backed firms were established in Turkey while another 34 local companies benefited from international participants over the same period.

In Turkey, some 61,500 companies with overseas capital were operating as of April -- 37.2 percent of them linked to the EU.

Official report showed that over 23,500 of these companies are involved in the retail and wholesale trade sector, followed by real estate rental and business activities (9,980 businesses), and manufacturing (7,210 firms).

The Ministry of Economy noted that 108 incentive certificates for investment projects of international investors were issued In the four-month period.

According to the official figures, the investment value of these certified projects -- within the framework of FDI legislation and the incentives regime -- amounted to $6.5 billion from January to April.

Last year, Turkey attracted $10.9 billion in net international direct investment, nearly $7.5 billion of which was equity investment inflow, and the Economy Ministry issued 339 incentive certificates for projects valued at $25.6 billion.