Turkey's foreign trade deficit widens in May

By Dilara Zengin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's foreign trade deficit rose 43.4 percent in May against the same month in 2016, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said Friday.

The monthly deficit was $7.3 billion as imports increased by 21.7 percent year-on-year to $20.9 billion while exports went up 12.5 percent to $13.6 billion.

In the first five months, exports rose 9.5 percent to $64.3 billion whereas imports rose 11.2 percent to $89.1 billion compared to the same period last year, TurkStat said.

The deficit during January-May was $24.8 billion, a 15.7 percent increase on the same period in 2016.

Exports to the EU increased by 4.4 percent to $6.13 billion in May, up from $5.8 billion in May 2016.

Germany was Turkey's largest export market with $1.24 billion in May, followed by the United Arab Emirates with $1.04 billion, U.S. with $858 million and Iraq with $831 million.

Most imports came from China ($1.93 billion) followed by Germany ($1.82 billion), Russia ($1.45 billion) and U.S. ($1.16 billion).