Foreign trade deficit shrinks 33 percent

ANKARA

Türkiye’s foreign trade deficit declined by 32.6 percent in November from a year ago to $5.92 billion, the data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) have shown.

Exports climbed 5.2 percent year-on-year to $23 billion, while imports were down 5.7 percent compared with November 2022 to $28.9 billion.

Excluding energy and gold imports, foreign trade deficit was $877 million, said TÜİK.

The export/import coverage ratio improved from 71.3 percent in November 2022 to 79.5 percent last month.

Germany was Türkiye’s largest export market, followed by the United Arab Emirates.

Shipments to Germany and the U.A.E amounted to $1.75 billion and $1.4 billion, respectively. Exports to Iraq stood at $1.3 billion.

Türkiye bought $3.6 billion worth of goods from China last month, while imports from Russia were $3.46 billion.

In the first 11 months of 2023, the country’s exports amounted to $233 billion, rising 0.7 percent from the same period of last year. Imports grew 0.5 percent to $333 billion.

Türkiye posted a foreign trade deficit of $99.93 billion in January-November, marking a 0.1 percent year-on-year increase.

According to the latest numbers from the World Trade Organization (WTO), Türkiye’s annualized exports were $253.3 billion in January-September, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat wrote on the social media platform X.

“Türkiye captured a 1.06 percent share in global exports [total of $23.9 trillion], thus breaking its record,” he said, noting that the country’s share in global exports was 1.02 percent at the end of 2022.