Turkey's foreign trade deficit shrinks 42.5% in June

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's foreign trade deficit dropped sharply in June, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced on Wednesday.

TurkStat said last month the figure fell 42.5% to $3.17 billion year-on-year, down from $5.5 billion in June 2018.

The country's exports ($11.08 billion) and imports ($14.26 billion) in June both dropped, by 14.3% and 22.7%, respectively, on a yearly basis.

The exports-to-imports coverage ratio rose to 84.9% last month, up from 66.8% the previous June.

Meanwhile, the country's exports in the first half of 2019 rose 1.2% to reach $83.7 billion and imports dropped 19.8% to $98.56 billion.

The first half's foreign trade gap narrowed 63.6% to $14.85 billion, down from a $40.8 billion deficit in the same period last year.