Exports from Turkey increased 32.8 percent

The State Institute of Statistics (DIE) said on Monday that foreign trade deficit climbed 55.7 percent to 34.4 billion U.S. dollars, and the rate of exports meeting imports decreased from 68.1 percent to 64.6 percent.

In the same period last year, exports were 47.3 billion U.S. dollars and imports were 69.3 billion U.S. dollars.

Meanwhile, exports increased 35.8 percent to 6.2 billion U.S. dollars, and imports rose 24.1 percent to 10.2 billion U.S. dollars in December of 2004.

Foreign trade deficit climbed 9.3 percent to 3.9 billion U.S. dollars, and the rate of exports meeting imports increased from 55.8 percent to 61.1 percent.

The realizations in foreign trade figures as of December and January-December periods of 2003 and 2004 according to the DIE data are as follows: (million U.S. dollars)

. December Difference JAN-DEC Difference . 2003 2004 (percent) 2003 2004 (percent) . ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- —— Exports 4.595 6.239 35.8 47.253 62.774 32.8 Imports 8.234 10.217 24.1 69.340 97.161 40.1 Deficit -3.639 -3.978 9.3 -22.087 -34.388 55.7 Proportion Ratio (%) 55.8 61.1 68.1 64.6