The Turkish economy attracted $201.3 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) and $152.1 billion capital inflow for the period from 2002 to August 2018. When broken into regions, 73.8 percent of the capital inflow came from European countries, according to Industry and Technology Ministry data.

The Turkish economy received $112.3 billion from European countries in that period followed by Asian counties that accounted for 17 percent of total capital inflow, while the U.S. accounted for 8.4 percent of accumulated foreign capital entering Turkey.

Among European countries, the Netherlands was the top investor with $24.2 billion, or 15.9 percent of foreign direct capital inflow to Turkey over the last 16 years.

Capital from the U.S. totaled to $11.5 billion, followed by Austria in third with $10.5 billion capital investment in the Turkish economy.

In terms of sectoral distribution, the tertiary sector accounted for 61.9 percent of total foreign investments from 2002 through August 2018.The manufacturing sector and energy industry attracted 23.7 percent and 11.8 percent of total foreign direct investments, respectively.

Finance and insurance topped the list of service sector investments, receiving 34.2 percent of all foreign investments in Turkey. The telecommunications sector came second with 8.3 percent, while the wholesale-retail and transportation-storage sectors, claimed 6.1 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively, of foreign direct investments.

International Investors Association (YASED) Chairman Ahmet Erdem said Turkey offers great potential and attractive opportunities for all international direct investors, particularly Europeans.

By the end of September, Turkey had received $8 billion in foreign direct investments. European countries claimed the lion's share: nearly 70 percent of the total FDI in the first nine months of the year, Erdem noted. YASED Chairman Erdem stressed that the Turkish economy's ability to increase FDI from global markets will depend on concrete steps to improve the investment climate, doing business and progress in structural reforms. "The energy, manufacturing, e-commerce, health and financial sectors receive the highest amount of foreign investment. But the development of venture capital funds and angel investors have also accelerated investments in technology, mobile services and the internet. In addition to traditional sectors like manufacturing and infrastructure, the technology and energy sectors are also attractive candidates to receive foreign direct investment next year," Erdem concluded.