Turkey increases lira use in foreign trade

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

The lira use in Turkish exports rose 30 percent in 10 months into 2011, figures say.

The use of Turkish Liras in foreign trade increased 24 percent in the first 10 months of the year compared with the same period in 2011, reaching $11.1 billion. Lira use in exports was the main driver of the trend, with trade with Germany and Iran leading the transactions.

The lira was used in $3.7 billion of Turkey’s total $126.3 billion exports in the January-October period, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute data gathered by Anatolia news agency.

The total value of liras used in exports was $2.9 billion for the same period last year, so the amount has risen 31 percent.

Meanwhile, the value of the lira used in imports was $7.4 billion among the $195.8 billion total imports in the first 10 months of 2012, which was $6.1 billion last year, showing a 20 percent raise.
Therefore, the use of the lira in foreign transactions has reached almost $11.1 billion, with an increase of 24 percent.

Germany leads lira trade

The total value of Turkish liras used in foreign trade transactions was $3.7 billion in 2007, but this figure had risen three-and-a-half times for the same period of 2012. The rate of use of the lira in foreign transactions was 1.5 percent in 2007 and had risen to 3.4 percent in 2012.

Germany, a prominent foreign trade partner for Turkey, was the leading country for mutual trade transactions in liras, with a total value of $1.3 billion. Iran and China followed with $863.7 million $762.3 million respectively.

The pharmacy sector topped the usage of lira in imports with $1.7 billion, followed by $1.41 billion worth of motorized land vehicles and their trade in their parts. The lira used in imports was highest for the carpet sector, with a value of $304 million

Incentives yield results

Meanwhile, the number of investment incentive certificates issued in the July-November period increased 24 percent, while the fixed investment volume rose 23 percent, as a result of the new incentive system, Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan has said in a written statement. Between June 20 and end of November, 925 investment incentive certificates had been issued, provisioning 23.6 billion liras in fixed investments and 77,889 new employment positions, said Çağlayan. He also said that 11.5 billion liras of the 23.6 billion lira fixed investment volume was for the manufacturing sector, 7 billion for services, 3.9 billion for energy and 1.3 billion for the mining sector.