Turkey’s trade deficit widens 85 percent to $8.14 billion in September

ANKARA

Turkey’s trade deficit widened by 85 percent to $8.14 billion in September from the same period a year earlier, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) showed on Oct. 31.

In September 2017 compared to the same month of last year, Turkey’s exports rose 8.7 percent to $11.8 billion while imports climbed to $19.9 billion - a 30.6 percent hike.

The country’s foreign trade volume reached $284 billion between January and September this year, marking a 13.4 percent annual increase, according to provisional data produced by TÜİK and the Customs and Trade Ministry.

Imports climbed 15.5 percent to around $169 billion, amounting to a foreign trade deficit of $53.8 billion over the same period. Official data showed the percentage of imports covered by exports was 68.1 in the nine-month period.

Compared with the same month of the previous year, exports to the EU-28 increased by 7.9 percent in September, from $5.46 billion to $5.9 billion.

However, the proportional share of exports for EU countries was 49.8 percent in September 2017, while it was 50.2 percent in September 2016, according to the TÜİK data.

Turkey’s main export market was again Germany in September, followed by the U.K., the U.S. and Iraq, official data also showed.