The investment program of the Turkish Presidency for the year 2024, disclosed in the country’s Official Gazette, outlines a budget allocation of TL 1.07 trillion ($35.53 billion) for a total of 12,041 projects.
In total, the allocation for all sectors is comprised of 3,799 main projects out of the stated 12,041, according to the decree.
According to the decision on the acceptance and implementation of the 2024 investment program published in the Official Gazette's duplicate issue dated Jan. 15, the program includes an allocation of TL 318.96 billion for some 773 projects in the transportation and communication sector.
With a surge of 162% year-over-year, and resources amounting to nearly TL 319 billion, this sector’s share is the largest among sectors and stands at 31.7% of the total allocation.
Moreover, the financing amounting to TL 150.78 billion is to be allocated for 1,027 projects in education, constituting 15% of the total allocation.
Sector-wise allocations in this year’s program also include TL 106 billion for the mining sector, which, with a 10.5% share, stood third among sectors. The annual rise in investments in the mining sector is said to stand at 34%.
Following mining, the energy sector, which saw an increase of 70% year-over-year and accounted for 7.5% of total investments, was allocated at TL 75.7 billion.
Of this, some TL 46 billion was allocated for the Sakarya natural gas field, the largest discovery ever off the Black Sea coast, where work is underway to increase the production capacity of the field. Another TL 53.8 billion was allocated for other natural gas and oil exploration and production activities carried out to reduce foreign dependency on energy.
This year, TL 101 billion was allocated to the agricultural sector, which receives 10% of the total share, with an annual surge of 132%.
The share of the investments provided for the health sector this year was recorded at 9.4%. While the total investments for health are stated at TL 94.56 billion, according to the data in the Official Gazette, some TL 82.7 billion of the funds would be provided for the Health Ministry, up 152%, targeted at further improving the progress made in physical infrastructure and access to services and service quality.
In addition, to create more investment places for investors and entrepreneurs, and to increase production and employment, funds amounting to TL 15.2 billion were allocated to the Industry and Technology Ministry, in particular for the manufacturing industry sector, and saw an increase of 156%.
In this context, TL 5 billion is to be provided for the construction of industrial workplaces in the earthquake zone, while some TL 5.3 billion is planned for the financing of organized industrial zone projects, and TL 2.8 billion for small industrial site projects.
Similarly, to enhance the country's research and development (R&D) and innovation capacity, and to support research programs such as TÜBITAK TARAL, and research infrastructure projects in universities and public institutions, funds equaling TL 21.8 billion were allocated. In addition, investment funds of TL 35.5 billion were allocated to universities this year, an increase of 109%.
The projects to be carried out by public institutions are expected to receive TL 1.1 trillion in external credit. While the completed projects last year were recorded as 4,704, the program includes 4,108 new projects.
According to the distribution list based on budget types for public investments, it is projected that 71.5% of the envisaged investment would be carried out by central government budgetary organizations.
The 36% would be financed through public economic enterprises and organizations within the scope of privatization, and the remaining 1.8% by revolving fund organizations and social security institutions.
