Turkey’s exports jumped to an all-time high of nearly $225.4 billion (TL 3.03 trillion) in 2021, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on Monday, far exceeding the medium-term program goal.
Exports surged by 32.9% year-on-year in 2021, Erdoğan told a meeting in Istanbul, prompting an upward revision in target for 2022.
“We are revising our 2022 (export) target as $250 billion,” the president said.
The surge in foreign sales helped narrow the trade deficit by 7.8% year-on-year to $45.9 billion, Erdoğan added.
After being hit in spring last year as the pandemic hurt trade with Ankara’s biggest partners,Turkey’s exports saw all-time highs in 11 out of the last 12 months.
By October, the country’s share in global exports had surpassed 1%, another first for the country that marked a more than sixfold rise over the past two decades.
Imports amounted to around $271.3 billion in 2021, while the overall foreign trade volume leaped to $496.7 billion, according to Erdoğan.