Russia drives up Turkey’s trade deficit
Turkey's trade deficit rose 18.5% year on year to $4.9 billion in the first two months of 2005, according to data from
Turkey's State Institute of Statistics.
Russia's exports to
Turkey are gradually increasing due to the increase in oil and natural gas prices.
Russia accounted for almost one-third of
Turkey's deficit. Russian exports to
Turkey amounted to $1.69 billion, while trade in the other direction totaled only $292.3 million. This translates to a trade balance of $1.39 billion in favor of
Russia.
Turkey saw the second-highest trade deficit with
Switzerland. The trade deficit with
Switzerland rose 54.7% to $703.6 million.
Due to the cheap textile product imports,
China took third place as the deficit between it and
Turkey rose to $686 million.