Turkey draws $21.9 bln FDI in 2007 with big acquisitions in banking

The biggest part of the total flowed investment was made by Citi Group that acquired 20 percent shares of Akbank, one of Turkey's largest banks. Citi paid $3.14 billion for Akbank.

Other two biggest investments made into Turkey were also in banking business, the report said. Dutch ING Bank was the new owner of Oyak Bank and National Bank Of Greece acquired Finansbank in 2007.

ING paid $2.67 billion for Oyak Bank, while NBG paid 2.3 billion euros for Finansbank. Although Finansbank and Akbank transactions occured in 2006, the payments were made in 2007.

It said the Netherlands ranked first in the list of countries invested most in Turkey with 28.7 percent of total FDI flown into Turkey, while United States was second with 21.9 percent and Greece was third with 11.8 percent. Germany and Portugal followed these countries. There are more than 18,000 international companies active in Turkey, the report added.

The foreign direct investment to Turkey is estimated to fall in 2008 due to the fallout of the credit crunch in the global markets. Analysts say raise in the political uncertainty that rose after the closure case  filed against Turkey's ruling AKP is also a negative factor for foreign investors amid global credit crunch.

Turkey expects to attract $13 billion amount of foreign direct inflows in 2008 however the earlier estimation was $25 billion.

Turkey needs FDI inflows to finance its huge current account deficit, which is expected to hit $50 billion in 2008.