Turkey: Investment demand rises despite pandemic

By Sevgi Ceren Gokkoyun

KOCAELI, Turkey (AA) – Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Turkey’s investment demand followed a stronger course this January to August compared to the same period last year, the country’s industry and technology minister said on Friday.

“We supported the private sector’s fixed investments worth 127 billion liras (over $16 billion) with 6,296 incentive certificates,” Mustafa Varank said in an online conference.

The investment demand of the real sector in the first eight months of 2020 was up by 30% compared to last year, he added.

He said those investments, once completed, will create job opportunities for 191,000 people.

Pointing to the rise in orders, production, and capacity utilization rates in the manufacturing industry, Varank said the confidence of both consumers and producers in the economy has started to increase.

“Production increased in eight out of 10 sectors in September,” he said, adding that the most striking aspect of latest data is the increase in speed of employment creation.

“Firms have seen the highest employment growth since February 2018, along with increased orders,” the minister said.

“We expect a strong growth rate in the third quarter since investment and production are on the rise, and by putting up a good performance, Turkey will get through this difficult year with minimum losses.”

* Written by Aysu Bicer in Ankara