Türkiye’s services exports rise 40 pct last year

ANKARA

Türkiye’s services exports increased by 39.6 percent from 2020 to reach $34.8 billion last year, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) has shown.

The transport sector was the largest contributor. Transport services accounted for 70.2 percent of all services export revenues. Transport service revenues increased nearly 52 percent last year from 2020 to hit $24.2 billion, according to TÜİK.

The “other business services” share declined from 11.7 percent in 2020 to 10.1 percent, while the share of telecommunication, computer and information services was 7.4 percent.

Export revenues of telecommunication, computer and information services exhibited a robust 21.4 percent increase last year from 2020 to stand at $2.6 billion.

Export revenues from financial services rose by 1.4 percent to $386 million, cultural and recreational services exports inched up 0.6 percent to $193 million.

Services exports to the EU amounted to $12.7 billion last year, accounting for 36.5 percent share in total, while exports to other European countries stood at $5.6 billion.

Türkiye’s services imports increased by 22.3 percent from 2020 to $27.9 billion in 2021. Imports from Ireland and Germany were $2.96 billion and $2.4 billion, respectively. The U.S. ranked third in services imports at $2.39 billion.

The strong performance since the start of the year suggests that Türkiye’s services export revenues will exceed the initial target of $68.5 billion this year, Trade Minister Mehmet Muş said earlier this week.

In the first seven months of 2022, revenues from services exports increased by 66 percent from a year ago to $42 billion, the minister said.