ANKARA
Turkey's foreign trade deficit surged in March, the Turkish Statistical Institute revealed Thursday.
In March, the deficit soared to $6.15 billion, up 17.2 percent from $5.25 billion for the same month last year.
The surge in foreign trade deficit followed two months decline in first two months of the year.
The decline in foreign trade deficit observed in first two months of the year was largely attributed to the fact that imports slowing much faster than imports.
However, in March foreign trade deficit ceased its downward move as a decline in exports was more significant than the drop in imports.
The institute valued March exports at $12.57 billion, a 14.4 percent decline year-on-year, imports also down to $18.7 billion, a 6.1 percent decline.
The country’s exports to the EU, Turkey’s main trading partner, declined by 11.8 percent in March to $5.3 billion.
China was the main exporter to Turkey in March. Turkey imported $2.3 billion worth of goods from the world’s second-biggest economy.
