Turkey’s foreign trade deficit in May, official data showed Thursday, was driven by high energy prices and soaring imports.
The gap rose 155.2% to reach $10.6 billion (TL 176 billion) in May, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said. It was up from $6.1 billion in April.
Exports jumped 15.3% to $18.98 billion, while imports were up 43.5% to $29.58 billion, the data showed.
May energy imports increased by 124% year-over-year to $6.94 billion, the statistical institute said. The figure is up from nearly $3.1 billion in the same month a year ago.
Under an economic program unveiled last year, Turkey aims to shift to a current account surplus through stronger exports and low-interest rates.
The overall import bill has been soaring due to an increase in global energy prices amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a revival in economic activity post-COVID-19.
Energy accounted for 23.4% of the overall import figures in May.
The country imported 2.97 million tons of crude oil last month, down from just over 3 million tons in May 2021. Crude oil imports showed a 1.5% decrease compared to a year ago.
The foreign trade deficit, excluding energy products and nonmonetary gold, came in at $3.75 billion in May, the data showed.
“The ratios of manufacturing industries products, agriculture, forestry and fishing, mining and quarrying in total exports were 94.7%, 2.9%, 1.9%, respectively,” the TurkStat said.
The trade deficit from January through May rose 136% versus the same period last year to reach $43.2 billion.
Export and imports in the five-month period totaled $102.47 billion and $145.67 billion, up by 20.4% and 40.8% year-over-year, respectively, the data showed.
Both in May and the first-five-month period, the main destination for Turkey’s exports was Germany, while the main import source was Russia.
