Turkey's foreign trade deficit widened in February

By Dilara Zengin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's foreign trade deficit widened in February as the country's import costs rose, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said on Friday.

The deficit increased by 15 percent to reach $3.69 billion in February 2017 compared with $3.16 billion in the same month of last year, TurkStat reported.

Data showed that, in February, exports were down by 1.9 percent to $12.12 billion year-on-year.

In February, Turkey's total imports rose by 1.6 percent to $15.82 billion compared to the same period of 2016, TurkStat said.

TurkStat's report revealed that Turkey's exports to the EU declined 3.2 percent to reach $5.5 billion in February 2017 compared to last year.

The main country for exports was Germany with trade reaching some $1.2 billion in the last month. Germany was followed by the United Arab Emirates with $938 million, Iraq with $725 million and the U.K. with $702 million.

In the same period, China was the top country for Turkish imports -- worth $1.64 billion. Imports from Germany were $1.43 billion; from Russia $1.30 billion and from France $767 million.