Page 70 - TURKRptAug20

month.
In January-May, a total of 435,000 homes were sold in Turkey, pointing to a 2.2% decline from a year ago.
The value of construction project contracts Turkish contractors won in the first five months of 2020 reached $2.2bn​, well below the $5.2bn worth of contracts they were granted in the same period of 2019, business daily Dunya reported​. The market interruption caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was likely substantially to blame.
In January-May this year, Turkish contractors carried out a total of 56 projects in foreign countries.
The construction market in foreign economies may revive in the second half of 2020 but Turkish companies’ revenues will definitely fall short of the $19.2bn revenue they collected from projects abroad in the whole of 2019, one expert told the newspaper.
Last year, local construction companies were awarded 475 projects in foreign countries.
Data from the Trade Ministry show that Turkish contractors have carried out more than 10,200 projects in 127 countries worth $404bn between 1972 and May 2020.
Lower oil prices are one negative affecting Turkish contractors because oil-exporting countries—a major market for construction firms from Turkey—are putting their projects on hold.
Construction materials exports from Turkey increased to $5.1bn in January-March​ from around $5bn a year earlier, the business group IMSAD reported​. In March alone, shipments to foreign markets declined nearly 6% on an annual basis to $1.7bn.
In the first four months of the year, Turkey’s construction materials imports inched up to $1.7bn from $1.6bn a year ago.
9.1.5​ TMT sector news
Newspaper and magazine circulation in Turkey declined by 8%, or 1.3bn copies, in 2019​, the country’s statistics office, TUIK, ​reported​.
Newspapers accounted for more than 94%, or 1.2bn copies, of all circulation.
The TUIK data also showed that the number of daily and magazine titles was 5,485 last year, down 2.6% from 2018. Some 57% of those publications were magazines.
Nearly 91% of the newspapers published in 2019 were local, 7.3% were national and 1.9% were regional, according to the statistics authority.
The number of newspaper titles declined to 2,237 last year from 2,944 in 2014 and 2,463 in 2018 while the number of magazines dropped to 3,148 from 4,176 in 2014 and 3,499 in 2018.
According to ​figures​ from Raiffeisen Bank International's (RBI) CEE Fintech Atlas, in the CEE region (excluding Turkey) there were close to 650 active local fintechs (with Turkey more than 700) in 2019​.
There is also a trend towards increased investment in fintechs by local and
70​ TURKEY Country Report​ August 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com