While Western sanctions against Russia revealed once again the importance of trade using local currencies, the foreign trade volume of Turkey carried out with the Turkish lira has been rising, data showed.

Turkey's trade in Turkish lira continued its upward trend over the past year, an Anadolu Agency (AA) report said Thursday, citing data from the Trade Ministry.

Accordingly, exports in Turkish lira reached TL 66.7 billion ($4.5 billion) as of the end of 2021. In the same period, imports made in Turkish lira were revealed as amounting to TL 116.4 billion, making the foreign trade volume reach TL 182.8 billion.

Trade with the local currency has also increased in the first three months of this year. In January, exports in Turkish lira were TL 7.1 billion while the imports were TL 12.5 billion, making the foreign trade volume TL 19.1 billion.

In February, exports in Turkish lira totaled TL 8.5 billion while the imports were TL 13.5 billion and the foreign trade volume was TL 22.1 billion.

In March, the exports in question amounted to TL 9.3 billion, an increase of 8.3% compared to the previous month and of 71.9% compared to the same month of the previous year. In this period, while the amount of imports in Turkish lira was TL 17.1 billion, the foreign trade volume increased to TL 26.4 billion.

In the first quarter of the year, exports in Turkish lira increased by 71.8% compared to the same quarter of the previous year and reached TL 24.9 billion.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on conducting trade with the local currency several times to protect the value of the lira.