Turkish foreign trade deficit falls for seventh month

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

HÜRRİYET photo

Turkey’s foreign trade deficit has fallen sharply for the seventh month in a row in March, according to figures released by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) on April 29.

March’s deficit declined to $4.9 billion this year from $6.2 billion in the same month last year, a decrease of 20.3 percent.        

Turkey’s foreign trade deficit, which began falling in September last year, fell for the seventh month in a row in March.        

The TÜİK valued March exports at $12.8 billion, a 2.3 percent increase while imports stood at $17.7 billion, a 5.2 percent decrease.        

The country’s exports to the European Union rose by 18.1 percent to $6.3 billion in March compared to $5.33 billion in the same month of 2015.        

March exports to the U.K. – the EU’s second largest economy and one of Turkey’s main export markets – is worth $1.38 billion while imports from China – the world’s largest exporter – stood at $2.27 billion.