Bolat: We Continue Our Efforts to Ensure Sustainable Export Growth
The Minister of Trade, Ömer Bolat, stated that competitiveness in global trade has been strengthened through value-added and innovation-oriented production, saying, "As the Ministry of Trade, we continue our efforts to ensure sustainable export growth through our support mechanisms, commercial diplomacy activities, and foreign representations."
Bolat explained through X, stating the following: "According to the September foreign trade data produced in cooperation with the Turkish Statistical Institute, our exports decreased by 1.9% to reach 22.0 billion dollars. In the first nine months of 2024, our exports increased by 2.6% compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 191.8 billion dollars. As of September 2024, our annualized exports increased by 3.0% compared to the same month of the previous year, reaching 260.5 billion dollars. In September 2024, imports decreased by 1.4% compared to the same month of the previous year, amounting to 27.1 billion dollars, while imports in the first nine months of the year fell by 8.1% compared to the same period last year, totaling 252.2 billion dollars. Our annualized imports in September 2024 declined by 7.5% to 339.6 billion dollars compared to the same month of the previous year. Thus, the foreign trade deficit decreased by 31.1% to 60.4 billion dollars in the first nine months of the year, while the export-to-import coverage ratio increased by 8.0 points to 76.0%.
In the first nine months of 2024, tourism revenues reached a record level of 46.9 billion dollars. It is anticipated that the positive trend observed in goods and services trade will lead to a continued surplus in the current account balance, which has been in surplus for three months, also maintaining a surplus in September. The limited decline in our exports in September is primarily attributed to the calendar effect, which is estimated to have had a negative impact of approximately 1 billion dollars on our exports. Additionally, the decline in gold and energy exports is also a limiting factor for exports. However, our exports excluding gold and energy maintained a strong trend, increasing by 2.9% compared to the same month of the previous year, amounting to 20.8 billion dollars in September.
According to another data released today by TÜİK, tourism revenues in the third quarter of the year increased by 3.9% to 23.2 billion dollars. Thus, our tourism revenues rose to 46.9 billion dollars in the first nine months of the year. It is predicted that the current account balance, which has been in surplus for three months due to the positive trend in goods and services trade, will continue to show a surplus in September as well.
As we strengthen our competitiveness in global trade with value-added and innovation-oriented production, the Ministry of Trade continues its efforts to ensure sustainable export growth through our support mechanisms, commercial diplomacy activities, and foreign representations."