Turkey's foreign trade deficit shrunk nearly 70% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2019, Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan announced Wednesday.

The trade deficit went down 68.8% to $16.4 billion in January-September period compared to last year's $52.5 billion.

Exports rose 2.56% year-on-year in nine month, reaching $132.5 billion.

In September, Turkey's exports reached $15.22 billion, posting a very modest increase. Imports also went up slightly to $16.96 billion. The rate of exports meeting imports reached 89.7% in September.

"Last month, the countries that we exported the most were Germany, Britain and Italy, respectively — making 22.2% of Turkey's total exports -- while Russia, China and Germany ranked first in our imports — accounting for 29.7% of total imports of the country," Pekcan said.

She noted that Turkish exporters managed to enter 214 different markets in the month.

Pekcan also announced that Türk Eximbank, the state-owned bank that supports the country's exporters, will lower interest rates.