“We remain committed to export target”: Trade minister

KAYSERİ

The government remains committed to the export target set for 2024, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat has said.

They are not anticipating a downward trend in exports for the remainder of the year, Bolat told reporters in the province of Kayseri.

Türkiye’s exports increased by 13.8 percent in July from a year ago to $22.5 billion, hitting a historically high level for the month.

In the medium-term program, exports are forecast to be $267 billion this year.

In response to a question whether the government would revise export targets downward in the new medium-term program, which is to be unveiled in September, Bolat said: “We have remained committed to our target since the program was released in September [2023],”

In the January-July period, the 12-month rolling exports totaled $261.5 billion, another record level for Türkiye, up by 3.4 percent on a yearly basis, showed data the Trade Ministry released last week.

In the first seven months of 2024, exports grew 4.1 percent year-on-year to $148.8 billion.

Autumn is always a vibrant period for exports, Bolat noted, voicing optimism that the target set for 2024 could be met.

Service exports stood at $101 billion last year, the minister added.

“Currently, the annualized service export revenues have reached $106.5 billion. Our service export target for 2024 is $110 billion. We will also achieve this target,” Bolat said.

He stressed that August and September are the peak months for tourism and autumn is the period when transportation revenues will increase, suggesting that service export revenues should be expected to increase in the remainder of the year.

Last week, Mustafa Gültepe, the president of the Türkiye Exporters’ Assembly (TİM), complained about rising production costs, saying that exporters are losing their competitiveness.

In response to Gültepe’s remarks, Bolat said that financing costs should go down once the annual inflation falls to 50 percent and below in September or October.