Not long ago, Turkey attracted little foreign direct investment. Even as recently as 2002, the country received only $622m in FDI, a mere 0.3 per cent of gross domestic product.

The past five years, however, have seen a remarkable upsurge in FDI inflows. In 2003, the figure reached $745m, it was $1.3bn in 2004, $8.5bn in 2005, $17.8bn in 2006, and $8.6bn in the first four months of 2007. Today, FDI inflows account for roughly 4.5 per cent of GDP, which is itself expanding at an annual rate of 7.5 per cent.