Turkey saw record exports in 2021: Erdoğan

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s exports saw an all-time high with $225.4 billion in 2021, with a 32.9 percent increase year-on-year, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Jan. 3.

“Our exports exceeded $200 billion for the first time in our history, exceeding the Medium Term Program targets,” Erdoğan said, speaking at a ceremony where he revealed the foreign trade figures of the country.

Turkey’s foreign trade gap in 2021 narrowed by 7.8 percent from the previous year to $45.9 billion, he stated.

In the same period, the exports-to-imports coverage ratio surged to 5.8 points to 83.1 percent, Erdoğan added.

The president said Turkey’s exports to the EU rose by 33 percent to $93.1 billion.

Erdoğan stated that while 33,523 companies made exports in 2002, the number of exporting companies increased to 101,386 by the end of 2021.

He pledged to see $250 billion worth of exports in 2022.

Turkey has put into effect measures for all segments of the society in order to keep the Turkish economy alive, to maintain uninterrupted production and to protect employment, despite the tremors on a global scale, Erdoğan stated.

As the country moves towards 2023, the centennial of the republic, Turkey is now in a different league in changing its crust in the economy, Erdoğan said.

“There is no doubt that our exports have a very significant share in our successes with the contributions they have made to our growth. It has succeeded in selling it to almost every country. I sincerely congratulate all our exporters, whom I see as the champions of the Turkish economy,” he said.

“Again, I congratulate our working brothers, who are the hidden heroes of our historical success, and express my gratitude to them on behalf of my country and nation,” he added.

Erdoğan noted that Turkey’s growth rate was 1.8 percent at a time when the global economy shrank by 3.4 percent and that the driving force in Turkey’s growth rate in the third quarter of the year was exports of goods and services.

The government had stood by the business world, traders, farmers, tradesmen and employees with the support and incentives, Erdoğan noted.

Unlike many other countries in the world, Turkey has kept the coordination between all state institutions at the highest level, no waste of time and resources has been experienced and the decisions taken have been implemented quickly, the president stated.

“Thus, we did not encounter any serious weakness in the economy and public safety, as well as in health services. The economic data of the last two years clearly proves Turkey’s success,” he said, adding that even though the global trade has been exposed to various disruptions due to protectionist policies and the disruptions in supply chains caused by the pandemic.