Foreign trade deficit shrinks 42.5% in June

ISTANBUL- Anadolu Agency

Turkey's foreign trade deficit dropped sharply in June, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) announced on July 31.

TÜİK said last month the figure fell 42.5% to $3.17 billion year-on-year, down from $5.5 billion in June 2018.       

The country's exports ($11.08 billion) and imports ($14.26 billion) in June both dropped, by 14.3% and 22.7%, respectively, on a yearly basis.       

The exports-to-imports coverage ratio rose to 84.9% last month, up from 66.8% the previous June.       

Meanwhile, the country's exports in the first half of 2019 rose 1.2% to reach $83.7 billion and imports dropped 19.8% to $98.56 billion.       

The first half's foreign trade gap narrowed 63.6% to $14.85 billion, down from a $40.8 billion deficit in the same period last year.

Q2 tourism income jumps over 13%

Turkey's tourism revenue hit nearly $8 billion in the second quarter of this year, TÜİK also said.

The figure was up 13.2% from the same quarter last year, said the TÜİK.

This April-June, 87.8% of the income- excluding GSM roaming and marina service expenditures- came from foreign visitors, while the rest was from citizens residing abroad.       

The average expenditure of visitors in the three-month period stood at $625 per capita.       

"In this quarter, while the average expenditure of foreigners was $607 per capita, the average expenditure of Turkish citizens residing abroad was $766 per capita," it said.       

The country attracted 12.8 million visitors in April-June, up 15.3% year-on-year.       

"While 90.1% of visitors were foreign with 11.5 million persons, 9.9% of them were Turkish citizens residing abroad, with 1.3 million persons," the statement read.