Turkey’s foreign trade deficit up by 82.5 percent

ANKARA

Turkey’s foreign trade deficit increased by 82.5 percent in July compared with July 2016, according to official data.

The provisional data, produced with the cooperation of the Turkish Statistical Institute and the Ministry of Customs and Trade and made public on Aug. 29, showed Turkey’s exports were $12.64 million last month with a 28.3 percent increase and imports were $21.49 billion dollars  with a 46.2 percent  increase compared with July 2016.

In July, foreign trade deficit was $8.84 billion with an 82.5 percent increase compared with July 2016.

Seasonally and calendar adjusted exports decreased by 1.6 percent while imports increased 5.3 percent compared with previous month. Calendar adjusted exports and imports increased by 16.5 percent and 25.1 percent, respectively compared with July 2016.

As compared with the same month of the previous year, exports to the EU-28 increased by 18.2 percent from $5.065 billion to $5.99 billion. The proportion of the EU countries was 47.4 percent in July exports while it was 51.4 percent in July 2016.

In July, the main partner country for exports was Germany with $1.21 billion. The country was followed by UAE with $1.098 billion, the United Kingdom with $811 million and Iraq with $773 million.

Last month, the top country for Turkey’s imports was China with $2.13 billion. The country was followed by Germany with $1.83 million, Russia with $1.8 billion and the U.S. with $1.38 billion.

Foreign trade by technology intensity covers the manufacturing industries’ products in classification of ISIC Rev.3. According to the ISIC Rev.3, the ratio of manufacturing industries products in total exports was 94.7 percent in July. The ratio of high-technology products in manufacturing industries was 2.9 percent. 

The ratio of medium-high-technology products in manufacturing industries’ products was 34.7 percent.

The ratio of manufacturing industries’ products in total imports was 83.8 percent. The ratio of high-technology products in  manufacturing industries’ products was 13.9 percent, while the ratio of medium-high-technology products in manufacturing industries’ products was 38.3 percent in July.


Turkish economic confidence hits 5-year peak

Turkey’s economic confidence index climbed to its highest level since July 2012, according to official data released on Aug. 29.

The economic confidence index increased by 2.5 percent to 106 points in August, up from 103.4 points in July, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) said in a report.

The institute noted that monthly hikes in real, services, retail trade and construction sector confidence indexes maintained the rise in economic confidence.

Among all indexes, the construction confidence index rose the most, by 3.3 percent, to 88.3 points.

The real sector confidence index climbed to 110.2 points with a 2.3 percent month-on-month increase, followed by services (105.4 points) and retail trade (108.5 points) sectors with increases of 1.6 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

In August, only the consumer confidence index declined, down 0.3 percent to 71.1 points.

According to the TÜİK definition, the index indicates an optimistic outlook regarding the general economic situation when it is above 100.

It indicates a pessimistic outlook when it is below 100.