May 29 (SeeNews) - Turkey's trade deficit increased by 102.3% on the year in the first four months of 2020, reaching $17.5 billion (15.7 billion euro), as imports slightly rose while exports fell, the country's statistical office said on Friday.
Exports (FOB) decreased by 13.7% year-on-year to $51.7 billion, while imports (CIF) grew by 1.0% to $69.2 billion in the period January-April, TurkStat said in a statement.
The country's export-import coverage ratio fell to 74.7%, compared to 87.4% in the same period of 2019.
Turkey's top export destination in the period under review was Germany with $4.9 billion, followed by the US with $2.9 billion, the UK with $2.9 billion, Iraq with $2.8 billion and Italy with $2.6 billion.
Most imports in Turkey originated in China - $6.6 billion. Russia ranked second with $6.4 billion, followed by Germany with $6.3 billion, the US with $4.5 billion and Italy with $2.7 billion.
In April alone, Turkey's trade deficit increased by 67.0% on the year to $4.6 billion, as exports decreased by 41.4% to $8.9 billion and imports fell by 25.0% to $13.5 billion.
($ = 0.8997 euro)