World Bulletin/News Desk

Foreign direct investment (FDI) to Turkey dropped to $2.4 billion in the first quarter of the year from $4.6 billion in the same months of 2012, a recent report found.

The FDI inflow to Turkey in the final quarter of 2012 was also $2.4 billion.

According to a global FDI report released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Monday, the decline translates into a 47.8 percent drop in FDI to the country. The OECD report also showed that FDI outflows from Turkey declined to $700 million in the first quarter of 2013 from $2.3 billion in the same months of 2012.

“Inflows to Turkey declined largely due to the eurozone crisis,” Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek explained via his Twitter feed on Tuesday.

Monday's report also said that FDI inflows to OECD countries hit $169 billion in the first quarter of 2013, a 41 percent rise over the preceding three-month period. FDI outflows remained stable at $219 billion in the same period.