Turkey’s 10-month foreign trade deficit between January and October hit a record high of USD 94.9 billion on a periodic basis, while the 12-month foreign trade deficit fell from a peak of USD 122.2 billion in May to USD 112.4 billion in October.
Turkey’s exports in October increased by 7.4 percent to USD 22.9 billion, while imports, which have been declining since August, increased by 1.3 percent to USD 29.6 billion with a partial increase. While the ratio of exports to imports rose to 77.3 percent in October, the foreign trade deficit rose to USD 6.7 billion. In the 10-month period of the year, the foreign deficit reached 94 billion dollars.
The Ministry of Trade and the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM) announced Turkey’s foreign trade data for October in Ankara. In October, exports increased by 7.4 percent compared to the same month last year and reached USD 22.87 billion. Exports increased by 0.3 percent in the 10-month period of the year, reaching USD 210.77 million. While imports increased by 1.3 percent to USD 29.59 million dollars in October, it reached USD 304.27 billion with an increase of 1.2 percent in the 10-month period of the year.
Foreign trade volume decreased by 3.9 percent to USD 52.5 billion in October, while it increased by 0.8 percent to USD 514.1 billion dollars in the January-October period. Looking at the foreign trade balance, while the deficit was USD 6.7 billion dollars in October, the deficit in the 10-month period was USD 94 billion. While the ratio of exports to imports increased to 77.3 percent in October, this ratio decreased to 69.1 percent in the January-October period.
Service exports to exceed USD 100 billion
Stating that the monthly increase in exports that started in July continued in August, September and October, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat said, “Our exports in November have also started well. We would like to share that we are in a positive, good increase process as of the first 4 days.”
Stating that they made a total of 8 billion lira support payments to exporters in 10 months of this year, Minister Bolat continued his words as follows: “These support modules, prepared in accordance with the agreements and conditions of the World Trade Organization, will continue to increase next year. Our service exports are also doing well. We will exceed USD 100 billion this year. Our goal is to achieve an increase in exports with high added value, to reduce our expenditures on imports, to localize the products we import a lot by encouraging domestic production and investment and to ensure a sustainable improvement in the current account balance, to carry out an effective, efficient, active, fast but effective work in the fight against smuggled goods or harmful substances in our customs.”
