Turkey's foreign trade deficit fell by 10.3 percent to $4.49 billion in March, compared to the same month last year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) reported on Friday.
TurkStat's data showed that exports increased by 13.6 percent to $14.49 billion in March, compared to the same month in 2016, while imports soared by 6.9 percent to $18.98 billion year-on-year.
The report revealed that Turkey's imports from the EU made up 46.7 percent of total imports, a 2.4 percent decrease from 49.1 percent in March, 2016. Exports to Europe increased by 8.1 percent compared to last year, reaching $6.77 billion in March.
Germany led the list of the main countries for exports with trade reaching $1.32 billion, closely followed by the United Arab Emirates with $1.28 billion, Iraq with $906 million and the United Kingdom with $874 million.
Germany was also the top country for Turkish imports, worth $1.78 billion. Imports from China reached $1.77 billion, followed by Russia with $1.59 billion and the U.S. with $952 million.
The export-import coverage ratio was 71.8 percent for the March of last year, while it reached 76.3 percent in the same month of this year.
In the first three months of the year, Turkey's exports increased by 9.2 percent to $37.87 billion compared to the same period last year, while imports rose by 7.7 percent to $50.39 billion during the same period. Also in the mentioned period, the foreign trade deficit increased by 3.3 percent to $12.53 billion, and the export-import coverage ratio was 75.1 percent.
Source: Dailysabah.com
