The country’s foreign trade deficit stood at USD 4.1bn in May, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).
The gap expanded 20.2% from the corresponding month last year, TurkStat said in a statement.
Exports surged 65.7% year-on-year to hit USD 16.5bn in May, while imports jumped 54% to reach USD 20.6bn.
The exports-to-imports coverage ratio rose to 80% last month, versus 74.3% in May 2020.
This May, the country’s main trading partner Germany received USD 1.4bn worth of Turkish exports, or a 9% share of total exports.
It was followed by the U.S. with USD 1.2bn, the UK with USD 1.1bn and Italy with USD 834m, TurkStat said.
On the other side of the ledger, the top country for Turkey’s imports last month was China with USD 2.63bn, followed by Russia with USD 2.62bn, Germany with USD 1.8bn, and the U.S. with USD 951m.
In January-May, the country’s foreign trade deficit narrowed by 13% on an annual basis to USD 18.3bn.
The country’s exports stood at USD 85.2bn, up by 38.3%, while imports totaled USD 103.5bn, rising 25.3% during the five-month period.
