Turkey’s trade deficit remains around $7.1 bln in November

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s November exports increased 3.6 percent while imports rose 2.2 percent compared to the previous year’s same month, official data has showed, revealing that the country’s trade deficit diminished slightly.

The foreign trade deficit decreased 0.6 percent from $7.195 billion to $7.151 billion in November, while exports stood at $14.2 billion and imports at $21.4 billion at the end of the month, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) announced yesterday.

Therefore, the coverage of imports by exports was 66.6 percent compared to 65.7 percent in the same month last year.

Turkey’s exports to European Union countries, which accounted for 42 percent of the total goods sent from the country last year, constituted 44.1 percent of the goods.

Exports to EU countries increased from $5.7 billion to $6.2 billion – an increase of 8.7 percent in November compared to the same period last year.

Germany was the top export destination for Turkey in November with a 12.4 percent increase to $1.3 billion in exports compared to the same period last year. Germany was followed by Iraq at $1.217 billion, the United Kingdom at $898 million and Russia at $655 million.

In terms of imports, Russia led the list with $2.3 billion, followed by Germany at $2.1 billion, China at $2.071 billion and Italy at $1.1 billion.

Seasonally and calendar adjusted exports increased 4 percent while imports dropped 0.9 percent compared with the previous month. Compared with November 2012, the calendar adjusted exports increased 3.4 percent while imports went up 6 percent.