The FINANCIAL — Turkey was ranked 20th in the list of the first 30 countries with highest amount of imports in 2008, showed World Trade Organization (WTO) data.
Of the total $16.4 trillion in imports in 2008, Turkey had a 1.2 percent share, but the country failed to enter the list of the first 30 biggest exporters. Interestingly, the Czech Republic — with a smaller population than İstanbul — recorded higher exports than Turkey. Turkey's imports amounted to $202 billion in 2008, while the US was the highest importer with $2.16 trillion, 13.2 percent of all imports in 2008. Germany followed the US with $1.2 trillion in imports and China came in third, having imported goods worth $1.1 trillion, or 6.9 percent of all imports in 2008. The total amount of imports increased by 15 percent in 2008 over the preceding year and China, which was the country with the highest increase in imports, had a 13 percent increase in the same period. Even though Turkey has a high foreign trade deficit, it was able to make the list of the top 30 importers, a list comprising countries most of which have little to no foreign trade deficit. In 2008 the total exports in the world market were recorded and $16.1 trillion — or 81.4 percent — belonged to only 30 countries. Also total exports rose by 15 percent in 2008 compared to the past year.
Germany topped the list with $1.46 trillion in exports in 2008, 9.1 percent of total exports. China came in second, having recorded $1.4 trillion in exports.
