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Türkiye's November foreign trade deficit shrinks

Exports increased by 5.2% to $23 billion, fostering higher expectations for the upcoming year amid the transformation in the country's economic plans.

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After May elections, significant transformations have unfolded in Türkiye's economic landscape. / Photo: AA Archive

Türkiye's foreign trade deficit narrowed by 32.6% year-on-year in November, the country's statistical authority has said.

The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said on Friday that the deficit was at $5.9 billion in November, down from $8.8 billion in the same month last year.

The country's exports rose 5.2% to $22.99 billion monthly, while imports dropped 5.7% to $28.9 billion annually. In the first 11 months, exports totalled $232.8 billion, up 0.7%, while imports amounted to $332.7 billion, climbing 0.5%.

The foreign trade gap rose 0.1% year-on-year in January-November to $99.9 billion.

Türkiye has distinctly led in goods trade with the EU among candidate countries for the last two decades, as it has risen to prominence as the primary export market for EU-based companies and witnessed a nearly five-fold growth in Turkish imports into the union during this period pic.twitter.com/ixelUtJtxt
— TRT World (@trtworld) December 21, 2023

Türkiye's shift in economic policy mitigated near-term risks, experts say

A new era

After getting reelected in May, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's administration brought in a new economy team, overseeing a tightening in monetary policy as the Central Bank gradually raised its interest rate from a mid-year low of 8.5% to 42.5% as of last week.

Following Mehmet Simsek's appointment as the Minister of Treasury and Finance after May elections, significant transformations have unfolded in Türkiye's economic landscape.

Simsek identified lowering inflation, fiscal discipline, and reforms as the key pillars of Türkiye's medium-term economy programme (MTP), spanning 2024-2026.

The course change also saw the Central Bank's international reserves hit an all-time high of $142.53 billion as of December 15, with the bank revealing the most recent $1.15 billion surge over the previous week.