Turkey Trade Gap Widens On Weaker Exports

(RTTNews) - Turkey's foreign trade deficit rose in February as exports fell amid an increase in imports, the Turkish Statistical Institute reported Thursday.

The trade deficit increased to $7.77 billion in February from $6.77 billion in the same month last year. The shortfall totaled $7.5 billion in January.

Exports registered an annual decrease of 1.6 percent, while imports rose by 2.4 percent.

The main partner country for exports during February was Germany, followed by the UK, USA, Italy, and Iraq. Meanwhile, the top import source was Russia, followed by China and Germany.

Excluding energy products and non-monetary gold, the foreign trade shortfall was $1.21 billion.

Separate official data showed that Turkey's unemployment rate dropped to 8.2 percent in February from 8.4 percent in January. Moreover, this was the lowest jobless rate since July 2012.

The number of unemployed decreased to 2.88 million in February from 2.98 million a month ago.