Turkey's year-on-year trade deficit rose by 15.8 percent in April to over $4.9 billion, according to a preliminary estimate revealed by the Customs and Trade Ministry yesterday.

Exports for the month rose to $12.83 billion, which is a 7.83 percent increase from April 2016, according to the estimate. Imports also increased by 9.58 percent to $17.74 billion.

The volume of foreign trade surged by 3.65 percent reaching $30.5 billion and the foreign trade deficit increased by 15.7 percent, recorded at $4.9 billion.

Motor vehicles, bicycles, motorcycles, tractors and other vehicles led the exports with a volume of approximately $2 billion, which was followed by precious and semiprecious stones with $1.1 billion. In April, the third most exported item was machines, mechanical devices and nuclear reactors with $1.07 billion.

The most imported item in April was mineral fuels and lubricants which saw a $1.2 billion in value.

The highest increase in exports to UAE

While Germany led the way as the recipients of Turkish goods abroad, exports to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) amounted to $1.2 billion, recording a 237 percent increase. Exports to UAE were recorded at 302 million in April 2016, while the value of exports to UAE increased to $1.01 billion in April 2017.

Iraq ($857 million), the U.K. ($736 million) and the U.S. ($719 million) were the other main recipients of Turkish goods abroad.

China ($1.65 billion), Germany ($1.63 billion) and Russia ($1.46 billion) were the main sources of imports.

On Friday, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) revealed that Turkey's foreign trade deficit narrowed by 10.3 percent year-on-year in March to reach $4.5 billion.

Meanwhile, Turkish exports advanced 4 percent year-on-year to reach almost $11.9 billion in April on the back of performances by the steel, automotive, mining and jewelry sectors, the country's main exporters' association Turkey Exporters Assembly (TİM) said on Monday.