Limited Increase in Foreign Trade Deficit
Lowest Foreign Trade Deficit of 34 Months in August, Limited Increase in September.
According to the September foreign trade data announced by Trade Minister Ömer Bolat, the foreign trade deficit in September 2024 realized as 5.122 billion dollars with an annual increase of 0.5 percent.
Bolat said, "Our foreign trade deficit has decreased in 11 of the last 14 months. In this context, the foreign trade deficit decreased by 33.8 percent in the third quarter compared to the same period of the previous year, falling to 17.4 billion dollars."
In the first 9 months of 2024, exports were recorded as 192.8 billion dollars with an increase of 3.2 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.
Turkey's September exports decreased by 1.8 percent annually to 22 billion dollars.
A net increase of 5.9 billion dollars was achieved in merchandise exports in the first 9 months.
It was seen that the downward trend continued in imports.
In the first 9 months of 2024, imports decreased by 7.9 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, falling to 252.9 billion dollars.
Thus, a decrease of 21.6 billion dollars was achieved in merchandise imports in the first 9 months.
The export-import coverage ratio decreased by 31.5 percent in the 9 months of the year compared to the same period of the previous year, decreasing from 87.7 billion dollars to 60.1 billion dollars.
The export-import coverage ratio was recorded as 76.3 percent, increasing by 8.2 points at the end of the first 9 months of 2024.
"1 billion dollar negative impact"
In the 9 months of the year, exports increased by 3.2 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, amounting to 193 billion dollars, while imports decreased by 7.9 percent to 253 billion dollars.
Bolat continued his words as follows:
"When looking at the reasons for the limited decline in our exports in September, the first factor is that it is estimated that the calendar effect in September of last year had an approximately 1 billion dollar negative impact on our exports.
On the other hand, while the price of Brent oil per barrel was an average of 94 dollars in September of last year, it was close to the level of 75 dollars in September of this year. As a matter of fact, the said price decrease was reflected in our energy exports, and in September, our energy exports decreased by 42.1 percent compared to the same month of the previous year (with a decrease of 713 million dollars) to 982 million dollars.
In addition to the decrease in energy exports, fluctuations in gold exports have also created downward pressure on our exports. In September, our exports of unwrought gold decreased by 65.9 percent compared to the same month of the previous year to 188.3 million dollars.
Our exports excluding gold and energy, on the other hand, maintained their strong course despite weak external demand and the negative calendar effect, increasing by 3.3 percent in September compared to the same month of the previous year to 20.8 billion dollars."