Turkey’s foreign trade deficit widened 20.2% year-on-year in May to nearly $4.13 billion according to the general trade system, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) showed on Wednesday.
After trade a year earlier was hit sharply by the COVID-19 pandemic, Turkey’s exports in May jumped 65.7% to $16.5 billion and imports rose 54% to $20.6 billion compared with May 2020, the institute said.
In 2020, the trade deficit climbed 69.1% to $49.915 billion.
The exports-to-imports coverage ratio rose to 80% in May, versus 74.3% a year ago.
Meanwhile, the nation’s energy import bill in May surged by 143.8% year-on-year to $3.94 billion, the data showed.
Energy accounted for 15% of the overall import figures in the month.
The overall energy import bill soared on the back of an increase in the country’s industrial production.
The country’s crude oil imports showed a 13% increase compared to May 2020.
Turkey imported approximately 2.63 million tons of crude oil last month, up from 2.33 million tons a year ago.
This May, the country’s main trading partner Germany received $1.4 billion worth of Turkish goods, or a 9% share of total exports.
It was followed by the U.S. with $1.2 billion, the U.K. with $1.1 billion and Italy with $834 million, TurkStat said.
On the other side of the ledger, the top country for Turkey’s imports in May was China with $2.63 billion, followed by Russia with $2.62 billion, Germany with $1.8 billion, and the U.S. with $951 million.
In January-May, Turkey’s foreign trade deficit narrowed by 13% on an annual basis to $18.3 billion.
The exports stood at $85.2 billion, up by 38.3%, while imports totaled $103.5 billion, rising 25.3% during the five-month period.
