UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS
By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's foreign trade deficit saw an annual fall of 59 percent in August, the country's statistical authority announced on Friday.
According to TurkStat, Turkey's imports decreased by 22.7 percent year-on-year to $14.8 billion in August, while exports fell 6.5 percent to $12.4 billion.
Last month, the country's foreign trade deficit amounted to $2.4 billion, down from $5.9 billion in the same month last year.
“In August 2018, exports coverage imports was 83.6 percent while it was 69.1 percent in August 2017, ” TurkStat said.
TurkStat noted that the main market for Turkish exports was Germany with $1.12 billion, followed by the U.K. with $900 million, Iraq with $648 million and the U.S. with $637 million.
“In August 2018, the top country for Turkey’s imports was Russia with $1.55 billion. ”
“The country was followed by China with $1.44 billion, Germany with $1.27 billion and the U.S. with $920 million, ” it added.
The institute noted that the ratio of manufacturing industries products in Turkey's total exports was 94.9 percent last month, while the figure was 75.5 percent for imports.
– January-August period
In the eight-month period, exports totaled $108.6 billion with an annual hike of 5.2 percent, and imports were $157.8, going up 5.9 percent year-on-year.
From January to August, Turkey's foreign trade balance showed a deficit of $49.2 billion, while the amount was $45.7 billion over the same period last year.
Official figures showed that the European Union was the number one trade partner of Turkey in January-August this year.
Turkey's exports to the EU totaled $54.7 billion, accounting for 50.3 percent of all exports, while the country's imports from the 28-member bloc were $58 billion.
Near and Middle Eastern region was the second largest export market for Turkish products with some $19 billion, followed by the African countries with around $9 billion.
On the imports side, the EU was followed by the countries in Asia with an amount of $49.8 billion.
In 2014, Turkey's exports hit an all-time high of $157.6 billion while the figure was nearly $157 billion last year.
Over the past five years, the highest export-to-import ratio on a yearly basis was recorded in 2016 with 71.8 percent, while Turkey's foreign trade deficit has fallen from $99.8 billion in 2013 to $76.8 billion in 2017.
