ANKARA
Turkey’s gold bar exports to the UK increased by more than a hundredfold in the first two months of 2015 compared with the same period last year, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute.
The increase of more than 10,800 percent in exports, excluding jewelry, is estimated to be worth about $545 million.
Gold-loving Turkey exported 13.5 tonnes of gold bars to the UK during the period, up from 108 kilograms in the same period last year - or 125 times the amount.
According to TurkStat, the country’s gold bar exports increased financially by 200 percent in the first two months of 2015 to $2.97 billion compared with $994 million during the same period in 2014.
Gold bars
Turkey saw its gold bar exports reach 74 tonnes in the first two months of 2015 compared with 24.4 tonnes for the same period in 2014.
Turkey exported most gold bars to Switzerland, worth nearly $2 billion - an increase of 173 percent.
Turkey’s exports fell to $12.3 billion in February, a six percent decrease year-on-year, while imports declined to $16.9 billion - a 7.2 percent decrease.
Turkey exported over $2 billion worth of goods to the UK in the first two months of the year - gold bar exports constituted 27 percent of the country’s total exports to Europe's second-largest economy.
The U.K. was the largest receiver of Turkish goods in February, worth $1.1 billion.
Inflation risk
Arif Unver of the Capital Market Investors’ Association of Turkey said that, after the 2008 crisis, there were expectations liquidity in the world could increase the risk of inflation.
It also expected the value of many currencies - including the euro - to further decrease against the US dollar.
"These expectations may lead the UK to import gold bars in order to protect its economy against these risks," Unver said.
He said the UK, which is not part of the Eurozone, may be the country most affected by the euro’s value.
"Concern about whether the Euro would fall further against the dollar and inflationary risks have led the UK to imports gold bars from Turkey, which can provide the UK’s needs the fastest," Unver added.
