Turkey’s foreign trade deficit widens in February

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s foreign trade deficit widened in February as the country’s import costs rose, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) said on March 31.        

The deficit increased by 15 percent to reach $3.69 billion in February 2017 compared with $3.16 billion in the same month of last year, TÜİK data showed.    
  
Data also showed that in February exports were down by 1.9 percent to $12.12 billion year-on-year.       

In February, Turkey’s total imports rose by 1.6 percent to $15.82 billion compared to the same period of 2016, TÜİK said.        

The report revealed that the country’s exports to the EU declined to $5.5 billion in February 2017, a fall of 3.2 percent compared to last year.       

The main country for exports was Germany, with trade reaching some $1.2 billion in the last month. Germany was followed by the United Arab Emirates with $938 million, Iraq with $725 million and the U.K. with $702 million.        

In the same period, China was the top country for Turkish imports, worth $1.64 billion. Imports from Germany were $1.43 billion, from Russia $1.30 billion, and from France $767 million.