Türkiye’s trade deficit swelled to a record of more than $109 billion in 2022, official data showed Tuesday, as fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove up energy-import costs.
The government has been endorsing an economic program, unveiled in 2021, aimed at eventually shifting from chronic deficits to a current account surplus through more robust exports and low interest rates.
That goal was complicated by a surge in oil and gas prices in the first half of last year and by a depreciation in the Turkish lira.
The overall foreign trade deficit surged 137% year-over-year to $109.54 billion in 2022, according to the general trade system, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data showed, up from $46.2 billion a year ago.
It surged from a previous peak of $106 billion registered in 2011.
The December gap increased by 42% from a year earlier to $9.7 billion, the data showed.
Russia’s invasion last year initially sent oil and gas prices surging, impacting Türkiye, which imports virtually all of its energy needs.
On the other hand, the lira weakened some 44% against the U.S. dollar in 2021 and nearly 30% in 2022 but remained stable in the last quarter.
Energy imports shot up by more than 90% to $96.55 billion in 2022, according to the data. Energy imports were up 14% in December.
In 2022, exports rose 12.9% to $254.1 billion and imports jumped 34% to $363.7 billion.
