Türkiye’s foreign trade gap decreased by 30.5% in the first half of this year when compared to the same period a year earlier, according to official data by the country’s statistical institute on Wednesday.
The positive momentum persisted despite an increase in the June deficit due to a drop in monthly exports and as imports maintained a downward trend.
The deficit in the first six months of the year was realized at $42.59 billion (TL 1.41 trillion), down from $61.3 billion in the same period a year ago, Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said.
The figures showed that the country’s exports rose by 2.6% to $126.3 billion in the January-June period while imports dropped by 8.4% to $168.87 billion.
The export-import coverage ratio was 74.8% during the first half, up from 66.8% in the same period last year.
Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said that the deficit increased slightly in June compared to the previous month due to the holiday effect.
“Despite this, the deficit improved by $32 billion compared to last year,” he said in a post on X.
The minister said that the “positive outlook” in external balance and tourism continues while citing the annualized number of visitors and revenues in the second quarter.
“We expect the ongoing decline in the current account deficit to continue for the rest of the year and the ratio of the current account deficit to national income to decrease to approximately 2% in 2024,” he added, reiterating that a sustainable current account deficit is “of great importance for our program goals.”
High-tech’s share in overall exports was at 4.1% in the first six months this year, up by 19.2% year-over-year, the data showed.
In January-June, the main sources for Türkiye’s imports were Russia, China and Germany while the main export destinations of Turkish companies were Germany, the U.S. and the U.K.
In June alone, Türkiye’s exports dropped by 8.3% to $19.05 billion and imports went down by 4.4% to $24.92 billion resulting in a foreign trade deficit of $5.87 billion.
