Foreign trade deficit continues to shrink, shows ministry data

Foreign trade deficit continues to shrink, shows ministry data

ISTANBUL

Türkiye’s foreign trade deficit continued to decline in August, narrowing 43.4 percent year-on-year to $4.93 billion last month, according to the Trade Ministry on Sept. 2.

This marked the lowest level of foreign trade deficit in 34 months.

Exports grew 2.4 percent from a year ago to $22.1 billion, an all-time high for the month of August, while imports plunged nearly 11 percent to $26.99 billion.

The export/import coverage ratio improved 10.5 points from August 2023 to climb to 81.7 percent. Excluding energy and gold imports, the coverage ratio was 98.6 percent.

Exports to Germany amounted to $1.67 billion, according to the ministry data. Shipments of goods to the U.S. and the U.K. generated $1.34 billion and $1.2 billion in export revenues in August, respectively.

On the imports side, China was the Türkiye’s largest supplier, followed by Russia and Germany.

The country’s imports from China and Russia were $4 billion and $3.36 billion, respectively. Imports from Germany amounted to $2 billion.

Türkiye spent $18.8 billion on imported intermediate goods in August, a 13.1 percent decline from a year ago. Capital goods imports plunged 10.7 percent year-on-year to $4 billion.

Consumer goods imports, however, inched up 1.1 percent from August last year to $4.18 billion.

In the first nine months of 2024, Türkiye’s exports amounted to $170.8 billion, pointing to an annual increase of 3.9 percent, but imports fell 3.7 percent to $396.5 billion.

Consequently, the foreign trade deficit fell 33.6 percent to $54.9 billion.

The 12-month rolling exports and imports stood at $262 billion and $340.6 billion, respectively.