ANKARA: Turkey’s year-on-year trade deficit fell by 11.1 percent in December 2016 to $5.56 billion according to preliminary data released by the Customs and Trade Ministry yesterday. Exports for the month rose to $12.82 billion, which is a 9.31 percent increase from December 2016, according to a preliminary estimate from the ministry. Imports also increased by 2.2 percent to $18.38 billion. Overall exports in 2016 slipped by just 0.84 percent to $142.6 billion from $143.8 billion in 2015, while imports fell by 4.17 percent to $198.6 billion from $207.23 billion in 2015, according to the data. The trade deficit for the year was $55.97 billion, down 11.74 percent compared to $63.41 billion in 2015.
Germany, the EU’s largest economy, was the largest receiver of Turkish goods in 2016 at $14.7 billion. The U.K. followed with $11.7 million in imports from Turkey and Iraq with $7.6 billion. Turkey imported $25.4 billion in goods from China in 2016. Germany was the second largest exporter to the country with over $21.4 billion for the year and Russia came in third with over $15.1 billion from gas imports.
