The year-on-year foreign trade deficit increased 44.4 per cent to $15.4bn in the first nine months, the State Institute of Statistics (DIE) said on Friday.
DIE said exports from January to September were up 30.4 per cent, at $33.555bn, while imports increased 34.5 per cent to $48.963bn.
In the month of September alone, the trade deficit was up 66.3 per cent year-on-year at $2.153bn, with exports rising 24.1 per cent and imports up 36.2 per cent.
Turkey's exports stood at $4.3bn and its imports at $6.1bn in September alone.
The export-import ratio fell to 68.5 per cent in the January to September period, the lowest since February 2001.
Turkey's consumption goods imports rose by 43.1 per cent to $ 4.9bn, followed by intermediate goods imports at 34.8 per cent and capital goods imports at 29.9 per cent in the first nine months of the year. Intermediate goods imports amounted to $36.2bn in the same period.
