Turkey's April trade deficit widens to $4.9 billion

By Can Erozden and Dilara Zengin

ANKARA

Turkey's foreign trade deficit rose 16.7 percent in April against the same month in 2016, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said Wednesday.

The monthly deficit was $4.9 billion as imports rose 9.9 percent year-on-year to $17.7 billion while exports were up 7.4 percent to $12.8 billion.

In the first four months, exports rose 8.7 percent to $50.6 billion as imports rose by 8.3 percent to $68.2 billion, TurkStat said. The deficit during that period was $17.5 billion, a 7.1 percent increase on the same period in 2016.

Exports to the EU rose by 2.2 percent to $5.7 billion in April, up from $5.6 billion in April 2016.

Germany was Turkey’s largest export market ($1.1 billion in April), followed by the United Arab Emirates ($1.02 billion), Iraq ($857 million) and the U.K. ($737 million).

Most imports came from China ($1.64 billion worth), then Germany ($1.62 billion), Russia ($1.4 billion) and the U.S. ($980 million).