Turkey’s foreign trade deficit declined 13.4% year-on-year in January, the Turkish Statistical Institute reported on Monday, Anadolu Agency reported. In January, the deficit fell to $3.76 billion, down from $4.34 billion from same month last year, plummeting 13.4%. Exports amounted to $9.6 billion, a 22% decrease from January 2015, and imports were $13.4 billion, a 19.7% decline year-on-year. Turkey’s exports to the EU, its main trading partner, declined by 9.7% in January to $4.75 billion. The European Union accounted for 49.5% of total Turkish exports in January compared with 42.7% in January 2015. The huge slump in the price of oil gave the country its smallest trade deficit last year ($63.3 billion) since 2009. The energy bill stood at $37.8 billion, down from $54.9 billion in 2014. Meanwhile, the lira strengthened after the figures were announced, trading 1.1% higher at 2.96 in Istanbul. After depreciating 20% in 2015, the currency has lost another 1.45% so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
