Türkiye's trade gap rises to $8.8B in November

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye's trade deficit widened to $8.8 billion in November, according to official data released on Friday.

The gap grew 60.7% year-on-year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data showed.

The country's exports rose 2.1% on an annual basis to $21.9 billion last month.

Imports increased at a faster pace than exports, up 14% from a year ago to $30.7 billion this November.

The exports-to-imports coverage ratio decreased to 71.4% this November, versus 79.8% a year earlier.

Excluding energy products and non-monetary gold, Türkiye posted a foreign trade surplus of $175 million last month.

The top export destination was Germany which received $1.9 billion worth of Turkish exports. It was followed by the US with $1.4 billion, Iraq with $1.3 billion, Russia with $1.2 billion, and Italy with $1 billion.

On the other side of the ledger, top source of imports last month was Russia with $4.7 billion, followed by China with $3.1 billion, Germany with $2.24 billion, Switzerland with $2.22 billion, and Italy with $1.2 billion.

In January-November, Türkiye's trade gap amounted to $99.8 billion, growing 153.4% from the same period last year.

Türkiye's exports amounted to some $231.3 billion, up 13.9%, while imports were $331.1 billion, a hike of 36.6% during the 11-month period.