UPDATE - Turkey's foreign trade gap shrinks 77 pct in September

UPDATES WITH MORE FIGURES

By Merve Ozlem Cakir and Erdal Celikel

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's foreign trade deficit in September dropped 77 percent year-on-year, according to preliminary Trade Ministry data released Monday.

Turkey posted a foreign trade gap of $1.9 billion for the month.

At a meeting in the capital Ankara, Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan said the country's exports volume surged by 22.6 percent on a yearly basis to reach its highest-ever September export figure, $14.5 billion.

She noted that 12-month rolling export volume also reached to a new peak of $165.1 billion.

"Hopefully, we will hit our export volume target for this year, which we upgraded to $170 billion," Pekcan said.

The foreign trade volume dropped to $30.8 billion during the month, falling 3 percent.

In September Turkey's imports fell 18.1 percent annually to $16.4 billion, she added.

"Thus, the exports-to-imports coverage ratio reached 88.4 percent, the highest level in nine years," Pekcan said.

The exports-to-imports coverage ratio was 59 percent in the same month last year.