Turkey’s gold imports decrease by 95 pct

ISTANBUL

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Turkey’s gold imports decreased by 94.4 percent in June compared to the same month in 2014 and by 18.1 percent from May 2015 to 1.35 tons, as reported by Reuters. 

Turkey imported around 24 tons of gold last June due to a dramatic rise in gold demand during last year’s wedding season. 

The gold imports dropped by 77.1 percent to 11.33 tons in the first six months of the year compared to the same period of the previous year, according to data from the Borsa Istanbul Precious Metals and Precious Stones Markets. 

Gold imports were around 131.3 tons in 2014, with a 57 percent of decrease from 2013, when the country had record high gold imports. 

There has recently been a rise in Turkey’s gold exports. Turkey`s current account deficit has narrowed since January thanks to gold exports, according to the World Bank’s July report on the Turkish economy. However, the gold adjusted deficit, a more accurate measure of external demand, deteriorated due to persistent weaknesses in Turkey’s trading partners, it added. In the last three months, the 3-month rolling gold adjusted current account deficit increased by $2.3 billion to $12.6 billion.