Turkey’s foreign trade gap widens in July

ANKARA

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Turkey’s foreign trade deficit widened by 6.5 percent to over $7 billion in July compared to the same month of last year, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) showed on Aug. 31.

The rise in July was mainly caused by the increase in the country’s car and gold imports, according to analysts, who said expectations of further losses in the value of the Turkish Lira probably pushed up the immediate domestic demand for cars and gold.

Turkey’s July exports were at $11.2 billion, marking a 16.2 percent decrease year-on-year. Imports also declined to $18.2 billion, with an 8.7 percent decrease.

The foreign trade gap decreased by 13 percent to around $40.3 billion in the first seven months of 2015 compared to the same period of 2014. 

Turkey’s exports declined by around 10 percent to $84.6 billion in the first seven months of this year compared to the same period last year, according to TÜİK data. 

Meanwhile, exports to the European Union, Turkey’s main trading partner, declined by 13.8 percent in July to $5.2 billion from $6 billion last year. Germany was the largest recipient of Turkish goods in July, at a value of $1.1 billion.

Turkey imported $2.1 billion worth of goods from China in July. Germany was the second-largest exporter to Turkey, at a value of almost $2 billion over the month.