Turkey's trade deficit increases by 298% in September

Turkey had a trade deficit of $10.4 billion in September, signifying an increase of 298.3% compared to the same month of 2021.

While the Turkish Trade Minister Mehmet Mus boasted on Tuesday that exports increased by 9.2% reaching $22.6 billion, and that this marked an all time record for the month of September, the imports increased by 41.5% reaching $33 billion within the last month.

The rate of imports against imports fell 20.3 percentage points to 68.5% in September.

In the first three quarters of 2022, Turkey's imports increased by 17.1% to a total of $188.22 billion, as imports surged by 40.8% to $ 272.04 billion, resulting in a nine-month trade deficit of $83.82 billion. This signifies an increase of 158.5% in the trade deficit compared to the same period in 2021.

Germany topped the countries in Turkish exports with slightly over $2 billion, followed by the US with $1.378 billion, and Iraq with $1.227 billion, while Russia was ranked the first country in terms of Turkish imports with almost $7 billion, followed by China with $3.7 billion.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said on the last day of 2021 that the "new economic system" will "boost the incomes of companies who in return will contribute to a trade surplus," and that "they will bring the country closer to achieving objectives through new investments and further employment."

The "new economic system" of the Erdogan administration requires low policy interest rates and retaining a positive climate for investments and consumer expenditures, while the diminishing value of the local currency is preferred to be seen more as a factor of competitiveness in exports.