Turkish trade deficit widens nearly 74 percent in October
ANKARA
Turkey’s trade deficit widened 73.9 percent year-on-year to $7.32 billion in October, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) showed on Nov. 30.
Exports rose 9 percent to $13.94 billion while imports increased 25 percent to $21.27 billion in October from the same period last year, according to the data.
Turkey’s exports to the EU increased by 11.4 percent in October to $6.9 billion, according to TÜİK data. The proportion of the EU countries also increased to 49.5 percent in October from 48.4 percent in the same month of 2016.
The top country for imports was again China with $2.1 billion, followed by Germany with $2.03 billion, Russia with $1.8 billion and Italy with $1.08 billion, according to TÜİK data.
Preliminary trade data from the Customs and Trade Ministry showed early in November that Turkey’s foreign trade gap rose in October amid a rise in energy and iron-steel imports and a fall in the value of the Turkish Lira against the dollar and the euro.
