ANKARA: Turkey’s foreign trade deficit has fallen 15.4 percent to $84.5 billion in 2014, due to a rise in exports to the EU, dramatic decrease in gold imports and plunging oil prices, according to data released by Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK).
Turkey’s exports increased to $157.72 billion in 2014 by a 3.9 percent of increase from the previous year, the all-time highest in the country. The country’s imports decreased to $242.22 billion in 2014 by a 3.7 percent of decrease from the previous year.
The export target for 2014 was announced as $160.5 billion, for imports as $244 billion and for trade deficit as 83.5 billion in the Medium-Term Economic Plan.
The deficit was announced at $8.5 billion for December 2014 with a 14.6 percent decrease from the same period of the previous year, parallel with the expectations, according to the TÜİK data.Turkey’s exports increased by 1.2 percent in December 2014 to $13.33 billion from the previous period and imports decreased to $21.83 billion with a 5.6 percent decrease.
Exports to the EU increased by 1.8 percent to $5.4 billion, increasing the share of the EU countries in total exports to 40.2 percent in December 2014 from 40 percent in December 2013.
