August Foreign Trade Deficit Up 13.5 Pct, Reaches $8 Billion

Turkey's foreign trade deficit for the month of August reached $8.036 billion, a 13.5 percent year-on-year increase, according to figures released by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) on Tuesday.

The deficit exceeded forecasts of $6.75-7 billion. The foreign trade deficit for the first eight months of 2014 reached $54.165. After the August figures were announced, the lira fell slightly against the dollar, dropping from 2.2740 to 2.2785.

Exports and imports both increased year-on-year last month, as exports rose 2.9 percent, reaching $11.44 billion, while imports jumped 7 percent, totaling $19.476 billion. The export-to-import ratio dropped below 60 percent when examined year-to-year, as the ratio was 61.1 percent in August 2013, receding to 58.7 percent last month.

Exports to the European Union rose 10 percent year-on-year in August, totaling $5.065 billion. In August of last year, 41.4 percent of all Turkish exports went to the EU, while that share reached 44.3 percent last month.

Germany was Turkey's largest export partner last month, accounting for $1.137 billion in exports. The UK took the second spot with $777 million exports, while Iraq was third with $647 million and the US rounded out the top four with $530 million.

Regarding imports, Turkey imported $2.257 billion worth of goods from China, which was Turkey's number one import partner last month. Russia came in second with $2.137 billion, Germany in third with $1.746 billion and Italy was the fourth-highest source of imports, with $994 million.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)