Minister Şimşek: Export support will continue

Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek stated, “We will continue to support production and exports in line with our sustainable current account deficit target.” Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek shared his evaluations on foreign trade on his social media account. In his post, Şimşek used the following statements: The annual foreign trade deficit improved by 7.3 billion dollars compared to the same month of the previous year, reaching 84.5 billion dollars in March. Despite the deficit, while exports increased by 3.2% annually in March, import growth excluding energy was 0.8%. The expected tariff increases that are anticipated to adversely affect global growth increase risk perception in the markets and create downward pressure on commodity prices. Weak global growth poses a risk to our exports, while our country’s relatively low tariff rates may provide some comparative advantage in certain sectors. On the other hand, it is expected that the decline in commodity prices and tightening domestic financial conditions will weaken imports. We will continue to support production and exports in line with our sustainable current account deficit target.