Turkey's foreign trade deficit falls 67.4 pct in Q1

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

Turkey's foreign trade deficit in the first quarter of this year fell 67.4 percent year-on-year, the country's statistical authority announced on April 30.

The figure totaled some $6.8 billion from January to March, improving from a $20.7 billion deficit in the same period last year, according to TÜİK.  

Turkish exports rose to $42.2 billion- up 2.7 percent on a yearly basis- while imports slipped to $49 billion, down 20.8 percent.

The exports-to-imports coverage ratio rose to 86.2 percent in the first three months of this year, up significantly from 66.5 percent in the same period last year.     

In the meantime, Turkey's energy import bill increased by nearly 10.6 percent to over $3.7 billion in March compared to the same month of 2018, according to TÜİK.

The data shows that Turkey's overall import bill, including energy and other items, reached $17.62 billion in March, with energy accounting for 20.99 percent.     

The country's crude oil imports showed almost an 87 percent increase over the same period compared to March 2018.     

Turkey imported approximately 2.5 million tons of crude oil in March, up from 1.33 million tons for the same period of 2018.