Turkey: $4.7B spent on environmental protection in 2019

By Yunus Girgin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey spent 38.4 billion Turkish liras ($4.66 billion) for environmental protection in 2019, the country’s statistical authority said Tuesday.

The figure increased by 1.2% in 2019 compared to the previous year, while share of environmental protection expenditure in gross domestic product dropped to 0.9% which was 1% in 2018, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).

Waste management services accounted for 46.3%, while wastewater management services accounted for 37.8%, it said.

"Out of total environmental protection expenditure, 57.8% was realized by financial and non-financial corporations, 34.2% was realized by general government and non-profit institutions serving households and 8% was realized by households" TurkStat said.

Environmental protection investment, however, fell by 10.5% compare to 2018.

“Out of 6.4 billion TL [772.7 million] of environmental protection investment expenditure which decreased by 10.5% compared to the previous year, 76.9% was realized by financial and non-financial corporations and 23.1% was realized by general government and non-profit institutions serving households,” according to Turkstat.

Figures released by TurkStat also showed investment expenditure for wastewater management services accounted for 3.3 billion Turkish liras ($398.3 million), while expenditures for waste management services and other domains were 1.4 billion Turkish liras ($169 million) and 1.7 billion Turkish liras ($205.2 million), respectively.