Turkey’s investment good imports posted a more than 20% year-on-year increase in the first 10 months of the year, which is a sign that the business world is preparing for investments after the pandemic, the chairperson of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) said Wednesday.

Şekib Avdagiç told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the increase in the period that covers the normalization process was 32%. The rise in the investment goods imports shows that the Turkish business world has invested today in preparation for the post-COVID-19 era, he said.

Avdagiç said the Turkish business world does not only focus on consumer goods despite the pandemic conditions but also seeks investment goods that will provide economic growth. "This shows that the Turkish entrepreneurs and investors are working with all their might for our economic future without surrendering to the fear of the pandemic," he said.

Avdagiç said that though the country’s overall imports have posted a limited increase of 2.2% during the first 10 months of the year compared with the same period last year, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data, the sub-distribution of the data reveals the increase in investment goods imports, namely capital goods.

The capital goods imports of the country have jumped by 20.4% year-on-year in 10 months, the TurkStat data showed.

“We know that the increase in imports of investment goods, manufacturing capacity and production, in other words, means an expansion of Turkey’s production facilities. This means economic growth,” he said.

Avdagiç said that the investment goods imports have entered a marked increase trend especially with the start of the normalization process, adding that even during the second quarter when the country was under strict quarantine measures, there was a 6.6.% increase which reached 23% in the third quarter. The increase was 57.6% year-on-year in October.

Investment incentives

The ITO chair commented that another indicator of the business world’s preparation for post-COVID-19 investment is the number of investment incentive certificates issued by the industry and technology minister.

Stating that the government's decision to continue issuing the incentives is meaningful for domestic and national production, Avdagiç said that there has been an increase of 95.3% on a unit basis and 21.2% on an amount basis in investment incentive certificates in the last 10 months of the year compared with the previous year.

“It should be emphasized that the source of this increase is domestic investors. The protection of the investment enthusiasm of our business world reveals the self-confidence of Turkish investors and their hope for the post-pandemic period,” Avdagiç noted.

He pointed out that the number of incentives given to domestic investors reached 8,053 in the first 10 months of the year from 4,002 during the same period last year.

Supply base

Avdagiç added that “the world spent the months of March, April and May in an environment of uncertainty with heavy quarantine measures and significant fluctuations in production demands. Turkey, meanwhile, maintained its production capacity and recorded no production loss."

With expectations that the pandemic will continue until the second quarter of 2021 at the earliest, the ITO chairperson said there is an accumulated demand in the world.

“We can say that the Turkish manufacturer is already preparing for the future demand,” noting that the topic is not only about the future demand but also preparation in becoming a new supply base.

He noted that “the fact that foreign capital maintains its investments in our country despite the pandemic is a strong sign that this perception is also present among foreign investors.”

The pandemic's effect on logistics, supply production and consumption supplies have reflected positively on Turkey, Avdagiç said, emphasizing that China is again increasing its exports; however, purchasing countries, mainly the West, have learned that depending on a single source is risky.