Türkiye's trade deficit grows in September

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye's trade deficit widened to $9.6 billion in September compared to a year earlier, according to data released on Thursday.

The gap was nearly three-fold on an annual basis, up from $2.6 billion in September 2021, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data showed.

The country's exports rose 9.2% year-on-year to $22.6 billion last month, led by manufacturing sales (up 10%).

Imports increased at a faster pace than exports, surging 38.1% from a year ago to $32.2 billion this September.

The exports-to-imports coverage ratio fell to 70.2% in September 2022, versus 88.8% in September 2021.

While Türkiye's top export destination was Germany which received $2.3 billion worth of Turkish exports, the top country for its imports last month was Russia with $6.2 billion.

In January-September, Türkiye's trade gap hit $83.1 billion, soaring from $32.4 billion in the same period last year.

Türkiye's exports amounted to some $188.2 billion, advancing 17%, while imports totaled around $271.3 billion, jumping 40.4% during the nine-month period.