Turkey’s foreign trade deficit declines 40% y/y in August

By bne IntelliNews September 30, 2015

Turkey’s foreign trade deficit declined by 40% y/y to $4.89bn in August, data from the statistics office TUIK showed on September 30. Exports fell by 3% y/y to $11.1bn in the month, while imports declined by 18% y/y to $16bn.

Turkey’s foreign trade figures are being followed up strictly because of the country’s problematic external balances. The Central Bank of Turkey expects the contribution of net exports to pick up in the second half with the support of rising demand from the European Union economies, the Bank  said on September 23 in a presentation to economists. Significant decline in oil prices provides favorable conditions to Turkey in order to narrow external imbalances, however, relatively limited declines in imports and unfavorable conditions in the export markets delays constant decreases in the country’s current account deficit, the Central Bank Governor Erdem Basci said in a presentation at the meeting held by Banks Association of Turkey (TBB) and Participation Banks Association of Turkey (TKBB) on September 29.

On a seasonally and calendar adjusted basis exports increased 1.6% m/m and imports decreased by 9.5% m/m in August, while on a calendar adjusted basis exports declined by 3% y/y and imports were down 18.3% y/y, according to data from the TUIK.

Turkey’s exports to the EU fell by 3.4% y/y to $4.87bn and the EU’s share in the country’s overall exports declined to 44% in August from 44.3% a year ago.

The government expects a foreign trade deficit of $85bn at the end of this year. Turkey’s foreign trade deficit declined by 15.3% y/y to $84.6bn last year as exports increased by 3.8% to $158bn and imports fell by 3.8% to  $242bn.

Turkey's Foreign Trade
  Exports y/y Imports y/y Deficit y/y
  ($ bn) (%) ($ bn) (%) ($ bn) (%)
2008 132.0 23.1 202.0 18.8 -69.9 11.4
2009 102.1 -22.6 140.9 -30.2 -38.8 -44.5
2010 113.9 11.5 185.5 31.7 -71.7 84.8
2011 134.9 18.5 240.8 29.8 -105.9 47.8
2012 152.5 13.0 236.5 -1.8 -84.1 -20.6
2013 151.8 -0.4 251.7 6.4 -99.9 18.8
2014 157.6 3.8 242.2 -3.8 -84.6 -15.3
Jan-Aug 95.7 -8.7 140.9 -11.5 -45.2 -16.9
Source: tuik            
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