The FINANCIAL — The global financial crisis took a toll on Turkey’s trade with neighboring countries last year, driving the country’s exports to seven bordering countries down by 3.9 percent in 2009 compared to 2008.
According to data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat), Turkey’s exports to seven neighboring countries — Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Greece — were recorded as $13.74 billion last year, while this figure was $14.31 billion in 2008, representing a year-on-year fall of 3.9 percent. In 2009, Turkish exports to Azerbaijan declined by 16.1 percent, to $1.4 billion, from $1.67 billion in 2008. During the same period, Bulgaria posted the greatest drop in imports from Turkey, decreasing by 35.5 percent from $2.15 billion to $1.39 billion. Exports to Georgia were also down from $997.8 million in 2008 to $746.1 million last year, falling by 25.2 percent. Iran purchased 0.24 percent fewer goods from Turkey last year compared to 2008, down from $2.03 billion to $2.025.
The only neighboring countries that Turkey managed to increase its exports to last year were Iraq and Syria. Exports to Iraq saw a rise of 30.9 percent, increasing from $3.92 billion in 2008 to $5.13 billion in 2009. Syria also grew its imports from Turkey by 27.8 percent during the same period, from $1.12 billion to $1.43 billion. Turkey’s exports to its neighboring countries accounted for 13.5 percent of the country’s overall exports in 2009.
Discussion about this post