Turkey: High Investor Interest
The Turkish economy offers attractive possibilities for European investors. It is very dynamic and growing fast. Turkey is currently the tenth biggest economy in Europe, and it has grown by 25% in the last three years. The annual growth rate is between 5 and 10%.
One of Turkey’s main assets is surely its people. The country harbours over 75 million people. In comparison the ten new EU member states have in total the same population. The purchasing power of this population has rapidly grown in recent years. Another factor underlying this continual growth is the young population. About 50 percent of Turks are younger than 25. The proportion of people living in the city has risen by about two thirds.
Turkey is a market on the threshold. The recent EU accession negotiations have prompted comprehensive reforms, which have aided international economic cooperation. Independent of the outcome of the EU accession negotiations, the results of which will most likely become known only in the next decade, it is important for investors to engage with this attractive market. The country is already an important target market for many German firms, however for Austrian investors it remains to date uncharted terrain.
For Austrian investors, Turkey constitutes an investment target of ever growing importance. Many German and Austrian investors are already active all over South East Europe. Not only the CEE markets such as the nearby countries Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary etc. are already “home markets” for Austrian and German investors; Romania and Bulgaria are also already among them.
As has already been reported in the Turkish, German and Austrian press, in recent years many international investors have taken the plunge into the Turkish market, among them prominent firms such as OMV, Mayr-Melnhof, Austria Tabak/Gallaher Group, Praktiker, Bauhaus, Ikea, Douglas, Schiedel, Deutsche Bank, MediaMarkt etc. Both the quantity and the volume of German and Austrian direct investment in Turkey is growing day by day.
