Positive ratings to Turkey from Fitch and OECD
Turkish economy successfully grew during the pandemic in 2020. The growth was recorded to be 5,9% in the last quarter of the year and 1,8% for the whole year. Director of International credit rating agency Fitch Ratings, Douglas Winslow indicated that, with the vaccinations and reduction of restrictions, Turkey’s economy will gain speed from the first half of the year and the growth is expected to be 3.5% level in 2021. Winslow said, “The recovery of tourism, the increasing demand for exports and recently made politics press would decrease the current account deficit in the period ahead which was 5.2 percent of gross domestic product in the first 11 months of 2020”. The OECD, on the other hand, has revised the contraction forecast on Turkey’s economy in 2020 from 1.3% to 0.2% in the Economic Survey Report which has been prepared every two years for Turkey. In the report, it has been remarked that Turkey has succeeded in controlling the number of the cases sufficiently in the first phase of Covid-19 pandemic thanks to Turkey’s strong health infrastructure and through targeted restrictions, and structural reforms would promote the recovery of Turkey.

The highest export in the history of the Republic was reached
Turkey’s exports closed the pandemic year 2020 with a record. In December, exports were 17 billion 844 million dollars with an increase of 16 percent compared to the same month of the previous year, and the highest export in the history of the Republic was reached. In the whole of 2020, exports were realized with 169 billion 514 million dollars, above the export target of the New Economy

Program, which is 165.9 billion dollars. In addition, while 1,800 companies started exporting for the first time in December, a record was broken in this area.
TIM director İsmail Gülle said, “We aim to export 184 billion dollars in 2021, the first year of the new normal. “With the continuation of the support provided to the private sector in the world in 2021, we will experience one of the years when financing in trade is easiest.” Turkey’s industrial exports raised to 13 billion 308 million 486 thousand dollars in December. This figure was the highest export made by the industrial sector in 2020.

800 thousand healthcare professionals were vaccinated in the first week of vaccination
Turkey’s performance in the first week of vaccination against new type of coronavirus (Covid-19) left behind a large number of countries which had been implementing vaccination for weeks. While In Turkey where the first vaccination started on January 13, 285 thousand healthcare professionals were vaccinated on the first day and a total of 800 thousand healthcare staff were vaccinated in the first week of vaccination; Spain, France, the Netherlands and Belgium were left behind this figure. On January 13, 2021, the Minister of Health Dr. Fahrettin Koca and members of the scientific committee were vaccinated firstly and the next day, the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine was inoculated to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at Ankara City Hospital. Secretary of State for Health, Fahrettin Koca, in his statement at the 2021 Assembly Budget Talks noted that Turkey leads the world with 100 intensive care beds per thousand people (40). As of February 19, 2021, 6,231,401 people in Turkey have been vaccinated, the second dose vaccination has begun and citizens above the age of 70 were defined in the system.

The period of real estate agent with authorization certificate
The authorization certificate regulation, which closely concerns those dealing with real estate purchases and sales, officially entered into force in the last quarter of 2020. Real estate consultants, who do not have a certificate of authorization anymore, who do not have sufficient training and experience, will not be able to do business in this field, and the supervision to be provided can lead to a ban from the profession in a wrong application. The new regulation, which entered into force on January 1, 2021, also banned the posting of advertisements to the websites of real estate consultants who do not have an authorization certificate. Without a certificate, real estate agents will no longer be able to enter advertisements on the sites, and the websites will be able to check the authorization certificate before the membership of the companies dealing with the real estate business. On the other hand, improvements in the Real Estate Trade Information System also continue.
In order to notify real or legal persons engaged in real estate activities without a certificate of authorization, a hotline system was put into use.

Foreigners can apply online via Web-Deed
Gökhan Çanakçı, Head of the Foreign Affairs Department of the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre, announced that as of 2021, foreign real estate buyers can also apply via the web tapu. As of February, within the scope of the system where actual applications were received from https://webtapu.tkgm.gov.tr/, a guide explaining how foreign real persons who want to sell their real estate or acquire new real estate should act step by step was prepared. Thus, even if a foreigner is an individual, he / she will be able to carry out the title deed transactions and the title deed registration application very easily under the guarantee of the state. Real estate technologies which we name Proptech, are in use today not only in private sector but aslo in major public agencies to facilitate the work of international foreign investors and reduce bureaucracy.

Expectations from 2021 in tourism are positive
TUI Germany chief executive Marek Andryszak, has stated that demands to Turkey and Italy as well as Spain and Greece are expected to be high in 2021 summer season and especially package tours will be highly demanded with the resumption of travels.

Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy stated that “The events can start as of March. We hope that the tourism season will start in April”. Stating that the optimum occupancy rate would be reached along with the decrease in the number of cases, Ersoy said Turkey has closed the tourism season with a better performance than competitor countries.
A healthy and safe holiday opportunity was offered within the scope of the “Safe Tourism Certification Program” initiated in the Covid-19 process under the coordination of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Described as the capital of tourism, Antalya hosted 3 million 512 thousand 910 tourists last year while the world struggled with the epidemic. The initiation of vaccination has raised the expectations of the tourism industry for 2021. Sector representatives started this year with a target of around 25 million foreign visitors.

Following Flydubai and Emirates, Turkish Airlines started flights from Istanbul to Dubai on December 18th. Dubai-based Flydubai launched flights from December 17th to Istanbul, and Emirates on December 21st.