The government's spending on research and development increased by 21.6 percent year-on-year to TL 7.5 billion ($2.13 billion) in 2016, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) Wednesday.

"The central government's budget expenditure on research and development accounted for 0.29 percent of gross domestic product and 1.14 percent of the central government's budget expenditure in 2016," TurkStat said in its report. The government budget outlays on research and development totaled TL 6.2 billion ($1.76 billion) in 2015, it said.

The report added the Turkish government allocated TL 8.2 billion ($2.33 billion) on research and development for the year 2017. The largest fund was allocated to universities with 36 percent marked for this year. This was followed by defense with 21.2 percent; industrial production and technology with 9.9 percent; education with 6.6 percent; transport, telecommunication and other infrastructures with 6.3 percent and agriculture with 5.3 percent.