Economy
Türkiye’s trade deficit up 13.6% despite best July exports ever
Türkiye’s foreign trade deficit widened 13.6% year-over-year despite the highest-ever July exports, with the seven-month gap climbing 8.3%, official data showed Friday.
Exports rose 2.9% year-over-year to $25.62 billion, Türkiye’s second-highest monthly export value on record, while imports increased 5.1% to $32.97 billion.
That led to a trade deficit of $7.34 billion in July, pushing the shortfall in the seven-month period to $60.55 billion, data by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) and the Trade Ministry showed.
The export-to-import coverage ratio declined to 77.7% from 79.4% in July 2025.
Despite regional conflicts and adverse global conditions, exports in the January-July period grew 3.4% year-over-year to $161.5 billion, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat said.
Imports during the seven months climbed 4.7% to nearly $222.1 billion.
Türkiye’s annualized exports increased 3.4%, or $9.2 billion, from a year earlier to $278.5 billion as of July.
Annualized imports rose 4.9%, or $17.6 billion, to $375.3 billion, the data showed.
Bolat said exports remained resilient despite ongoing geopolitical tensions, increasingly difficult international conditions, rising protectionism and weak external demand.
The government will continue strengthening Türkiye’s export potential through financing, export support, guidance and the activities of its overseas organization, he added.
“We will continue working with all our strength in the coming period to exceed the Medium-Term Program export target of $282 billion,” Bolat said.
Germany was Türkiye’s largest export destination in July, receiving goods worth over $2 billion, followed by the U.S. with $1.7 billion, the U.K. with $1.3 billion, Iraq with $1.1 billion and Italy with $1.1 billion.
China was the largest source of imports at over $5 billion, followed by Russia at $3.2 billion and Germany at $2.5 billion.
Manufacturing products accounted for 94.4% of total exports, while high-technology goods represented 4.4% of manufacturing exports.
Türkiye is launching a low-cost TL 250 billion ($5.18 billion) financing package aimed at supporting the manufacturing industry, Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır said Friday.
The package will provide small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large companies with loans of up to 36 months, including a grace period of up to six months, Kacır told an event in Istanbul.
The financing is intended to ease manufacturers’ access to financing while encouraging companies to preserve employment levels.
The announcement comes after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said late last month the government would expand the Investment Commitment Advance Loan Program to TL 750 billion from TL 500 billion.
This initiative is part of a larger TL 1 trillion financing package designed to support Turkish manufacturers, exporters, and industrial investment projects amidst tightening financial conditions.
Under the updated support framework, companies will be offered loans with both fixed and variable financing costs, Kacır said.
The maximum loan amount for large companies has been raised to TL 150 million from TL 50 million, while individual company limits will be determined in proportion to labor costs.
Financing cost as low as 25%
Fixed-rate loans under the program will carry an annual financing rate of 37%, while variable-rate loans will be priced at the Turkish Lira Overnight Reference Rate (TLREF) plus 1 percentage point, according to Kacır.
The government will cover 12 percentage points of the financing cost for companies that maintain their average employment levels from January to June during the July to December period.
As a result, the annual financing cost of fixed-rate loans could fall to as low as 25%, Kacır said.
The program will also provide credit guarantee support for SMEs.
Companies will be able to apply for the financing package starting Tuesday.
“We are living in a time when global balances are being redefined and geopolitical tensions are accelerating the race for economic and technological supremacy,” Kacır said.
In a period marked by rising protectionist barriers, reshaped supply chains, and geopolitical tensions testing the global economy, Kacır said Türkiye stands out for its stability and is increasingly solidifying its position as a hub for production and investment.
Kacır stressed that the government’s policies and the efforts of industrialists have helped the industrial production index increase 3.5-fold over the past 23 years.
“We are a leading European manufacturer in many sectors, ranging from solar panels to commercial vehicles, and from home appliances to iron and steel,” he noted.
The goal now, Kacır says, is to increase the size of Türkiye’s planned industrial zones from the current 160,000 hectares to 350,000 hectares by 2030 and to boost manufacturing exports to $400 billion.
According to the minister, Türkiye is the country that can competitively export the widest variety of products to the greatest number of countries across a broad region stretching from China to Central Europe.
“Thanks to our production-oriented economic model, our national income has risen from $238 billion to $1.6 trillion,” he said.
Türkiye is working to strengthen economic and commercial relations with Syria while expanding cooperation to support Aleppo’s reconstruction and economic development, Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat said Friday.
Bolat’s remarks came in Shaykh Najjar Industrial City in Aleppo, where he arrived for the first time since a visit in late 2004 with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
In the city just 50 kilometers south of the Turkish border, Bolat met industrialists and business representatives and examined production activities, industrial infrastructure and commercial opportunities.
The minister emphasized Aleppo’s central role in reviving the Syrian economy.
Earlier this week, Bolat visited Damascus with a business delegation and held talks with top Syrian officials.
Commercial ties between Türkiye and Syria gained momentum after the ouster of longtime dictator Bashar Assad in late 2024.
Ankara was the main backer of the opposition forces that overthrew Assad and has since pledged to help Syria’s reconstruction and economic revival.
“While strengthening Türkiye-Syria economic and commercial relations, we are developing cooperation opportunities that will contribute to Aleppo’s reconstruction and economic development,” Bolat said.
He stressed that stronger bilateral economic and trade relations would contribute to the prosperity of both countries, highlighting the importance of measures to promote production, investment and exports.
Restoring production facilities, increasing employment and strengthening trade routes are crucial to Aleppo’s economic recovery, the minister told business representatives.
Bolat said relations between Türkiye and Aleppo extend beyond commerce, pointing to nearly a millennium of kinship, neighborly ties and shared culture in the region.
Following his visit to the industrial zone, Bolat attended a roundtable meeting with Turkish and Syrian businesspeople.
The meeting focused on bilateral trade relations, Aleppo’s economic situation, the city’s reconstruction and measures to develop its industrial and commercial infrastructure.
Bolat said efforts to revitalize Aleppo were also of major importance for the future of the wider region.
Trade with Syria reaches $3.75B
On Thursday, Bolat attended a business meeting in Aleppo alongside Turkish and Syrian officials, lawmakers and investors.
He said the bilateral trade with Syria reached $3.75 billion in 2025, up 42% year-over-year.
The neighbors are eyeing reaching a $10 billion volume in the near future.
Bolat stated that the two countries achieved positive progress following three meetings with Syrian ministers over the past month.
The Turkish government is working to maximize its contribution to Syria’s reconstruction and economic stability, the minister added.
He noted that Syria continues to rebuild its state structure across all sectors despite Western embargoes and Israeli military pressure over the past 20 months.
Türkiye increased its imports of diesel from the United States and India in August to record levels, shipping data showed, as a Russian ban on diesel exports and wider disruption caused by the Iran war prompted its importers to diversify their sources of supply.
So far this month, Türkiye has imported more than 120,000 barrels per day of Indian diesel, while its imports from the U.S. reached 90,000 bpd, according to the commodities data firm Kpler.
These volumes are the highest monthly totals on record, according to Kpler data going back to 2017.
Russia banned exports of diesel until at least the end of August after Ukrainian strikes on refineries disrupted domestic supplies. Middle Eastern supplies have been curbed by war damage to the region’s oil refineries and reduced shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
“With Russian refinery disruptions and export restrictions, Türkiye is having to scramble for barrels from the non-Russian pool,” Sparta Commodities analyst Abhishek Kumar said.
Energy Aspects, which also provides data on energy flows, estimated India sent a smaller amount of 74,000 bpd to Türkiye in August and that the U.S. shipped 70,000 bpd. Still, these are the highest since 2022 and 2019, respectively, based on EA data.
Türkiye’s imports of Russian diesel declined to around 100,000 bpd in July and 80,000 bpd in August, having held above 200,000 bpd in the earlier months of this year since January, Kpler data showed.
This reduced Russia’s share of Türkiye’s diesel imports to 20% in August. In 2025, Russia supplied 85% of Türkiye’s diesel imports, with 281,000 bpd, according to the Turkish energy regulator.
Russia may extend the diesel export ban into September, according to industry sources.
Iran is preparing a list of conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz after mediators asked Tehran to set them out, a senior official said Thursday, adding that ending the regional war was among them.
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said Tehran had agreed with Oman on a shipping corridor through the strait, with parts of the route in Omani waters and parts in Iranian waters.
Ships would use a designated central channel if the U.S. met Iran’s conditions, he said through an interpreter in an Al Manar TV interview.
On Wednesday, reports said Iran and Oman were still working on details of an agreement on the waterway after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the two countries had agreed on how to share control of the strait and its revenues.
A Guards spokesperson said Iran would not allow the strait to reopen unless Washington lifted what Tehran describes as a blockade of Iranian ports while also paying compensation and removing sanctions.
Before the war began in February, the strait carried roughly one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments. Transit through the waterway has largely stopped since then.
Cease-fire agreements announced by Washington and Tehran in April and June were intended to restore maritime traffic, but did not hold.
Andy Burnham has been warned by several Labour MPs of a potential trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump over the British premier’s plans to impose tougher sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a report said Wednesday.
The MPs cautioned Burnham that the move could trigger retaliatory measures from the White House and risk a trade dispute with Washington, The Times said.
One Labour MP told the newspapers that the U.K.’s trade and diplomatic relationship with the U.S. is already “fragile enough” in its current state.
“We shouldn’t be naive enough to believe we could sanction Israel and not face any economic and political consequences,” the MP said.
Another MP pointed to the significant risk of U.S. tariffs being imposed on countries that ban goods from Israeli settlements.
“There is a very big risk of Trump and the Israelis taking retaliatory measures,” another official warned.
The official also called on the government to consider such risks carefully “before going ahead with gestures that might make their backbenchers and some voters feel better, but would not improve the plight of the Palestinians anyway.
Burnham’s plans to impose tougher sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank have deepened divisions within the governing Labour Party.
More than 140 Labour lawmakers, roughly a third of the parliamentary party, have signed a letter calling on the government to ban trade with Israeli settlements, according to The Times.
Labour Friends of Israel, however, warned that distinguishing settlement products from other Israeli goods would be “practically impossible” and that the measure could become a de facto boycott of Israel.
Burnham wants Britain to adopt a “far more robust” stance than his predecessor, Keir Starmer, in response to Israel’s plans to construct around 1,200 additional settler homes, the newspaper reported, citing a senior government source.
Measures under consideration reportedly include a ban on trade with Israeli settlements and sanctions against individuals involved in settlement activity.
U.S. President Donald Trump hinted Thursday that his administration may be preparing sanctions targeting Chinese banks over their links to Iran, in what would be a major escalation of Washington’s attempts to isolate Tehran.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent this week announced that the United States was stepping up its campaign to “collapse” the Iranian government through economic sanctions and other measures.
This includes a vastly expanded threat of secondary sanctions on countries that continue to do business with Iran.
China is Tehran’s biggest trading partner, particularly when it comes to oil. Chinese banks continue to handle payments related to those and other forms of trade between the countries.
Asked by reporters at an event in the Oval Office whether he would sanction Chinese banks over such transactions, Trump responded with his own question.
“Who said I’m not?” he said, cryptically. “I mean, who said I’m not? You don’t know if I’m doing it. Well, I don’t have to announce everything, do I?”
The U.S. Treasury has not so far issued any sanctions against major Chinese banks, although it has sanctioned several companies in mainland China and Hong Kong it accuses of aiding the Iranian government and armed forces.
Beijing said its cooperation with Iran has always been “within the framework of international law” and said it would do what is necessary to protect its rights.
The new measures come just weeks before Trump is scheduled to host Chinese leader Xi Jinping to maintain a fragile trade truce.
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