The Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO) has announced the profiles of foreign capitalized companies that were established in 2014 in Istanbul. Accordingly, new companies with TL 1.22 billion of capital were established in Istanbul by 4,487 foreign partners. Syrian investors had the biggest share: 25.21 percent of foreign investors. In Istanbul, 1,131 Syrians established new firms with TL 85 million in capital. In other words, one out of every four foreign investors was Syrian last year. Syrian investors were followed by 399 entrepreneurs from Iran and 289 entrepreneurs from Germany, which were followed by Azerbaijan, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Libya, respectively.
While Syria topped the list of foreign investors with their numbers, it came in sixth on the capital commitment list with TL 85 million. Companies investing most in Istanbul were from Luxembourg, China, Italy and Kuwait, respectively. The total foreign capital value that 39 investors from Luxembourg committed to establish new companies had a share of 14.90 percent, equaling TL 182.1 million. China followed with TL 138 million, Italy with TL 123 million and Kuwait with TL 116.1 million, respectively.
Over 60 percent of investors investing in Turkey are focused on three major sectors, and 80.83 percent of subscribed capital is concentrated in four major sectors. While 30.15 percent of total investors have invested in the service sector, various kinds of trade attracted 15.82 percent of investors, and the construction sector attracted 14.82 percent of investors.
Istanbul Chamber of Commerce Chairman İbrahim Çağlar noted that the data shows the sectors that foreign investors prefer to inject money into and that it is important to take into consideration this data when making decisions about both the economy and Istanbul. "When we consider Istanbul's importance in employment, export and tax income, we can understand the scale of foreign investments in Turkey better," said Çağlar. He also added that the vision to be implemented for Istanbul is also important for the stance of foreign investors along with micro stability.
