Minister of Commerce Omer Bolat said, “We expect the decrease in the foreign trade deficit to make a positive contribution to the current account account in November. We estimate that the decrease in the current account deficit will continue on an annualized basis.”
Minister Bolat made a written statement regarding unemployment and balance of payments figures.
Stating that the positive and strong performance in the economy was confirmed with the important macro indicators announced today, Bolat stated that there was a surplus of $186 million in the balance of payments in October, and that the current account excluding gold and energy maintained its strong course with a surplus of $5.1 billion.
“Service exports reached a record level”
Bolat pointed out that as of October, the annualized current account deficit decreased from $51.7 billion to $50.7 billion, and there was a surplus of $34.9 billion in the current account account excluding gold and energy. “The fact that the balance of payments defined foreign trade deficit decreased by 24.6% annually to $6.5 billion was effective in the current account surplus in October. In October, our service exports increased by 6.9% annually to $10.1 billion, and our travel revenues, one of the important items of our service exports, increased by 3.9% to $5.3 billion. Thus, our service exports reached a record level of $99.3 billion in October. Our travel revenues also reached a record level of $47.1 billion in October.”
Reminding that within the scope of the provisional data of the Ministry of Commerce in November, the foreign trade deficit decreased by 32.6% annually to $5.9 billion, Bolat said, “We expect this decrease in the foreign trade deficit to continue to make a positive contribution to the current account in November. We estimate that the current account deficit will continue to decline on an annualized basis in the coming period. In addition, the annual growth rate of 1.1% (calendar adjusted) in industrial production continued in October, and this increase in production was positively reflected in employment figures.”
Minister Bolat pointed out that the unemployment rate decreased by 0.5% to 8.5%, reaching the lowest level in the last 11 years, and said:
“We are determined to move the Turkish economy to a more competitive and strong position with our macroeconomic policies shaped around the priorities of innovation, investment, production, employment, export and fair distribution. As the Ministry of Commerce, we will continue our efforts to ensure a permanent improvement in the current account with our support to increase the export of goods and services and our import policies to protect domestic producers. In this context, we will continue to resolutely implement policies that will carry the Turkish economy into the Turkish Century by reinforcing not only economic growth but also macroeconomic stability.”
Source: AA / Prepared by Irem Yildiz