Turkey’s foreign trade deficit surges beyond $45 billion

Turkey’s foreign trade deficit has surged beyond $45 billion this year, data showed on Thursday, as fallout from the coronavirus pandemic extended the worst economic slump in President Tayyip Erdogan’s nearly two decades in power. The sharp trade imbalance, including a jump of $5 billion in November alone, approached the $55 billion deficit logged in 2018, when a currency crisis marked the end of years of hot economic growth fuelled by cheap foreign credit. Since mid-2018, year-on-year growth has averaged roughly 0.5 per cent due to a roller-coaster of recession, strong recovery and another deep contraction in the second quarter of 2020. — Reuters