Türkiye's exports hit a record high level of $262 billion during the last year, up by 2.5% on a yearly basis, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on Friday.
The country's foreign trade deficit, which was at $106.3 billion in 2023, decreased to $82.2 billion, he said during an event in Istanbul.
The export-import coverage ratio reached 76.1% in 2024, up 5.5 percentage points on a yearly basis, Erdoğan stressed.
In December alone, the country's exports rose by 2.2% to $23.5 billion, which is another record level, he added.
The country's imports in December rose by 11.1% to $32.3 billion, while imports totaled $344.1 billion in 2024, down by 4.9% year-on-year, he expressed.
In 2024, Türkiye's exports to the EU increased by 4.2% to $108.7 billion, in addition, exports to the members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation increased by 6.1% to $70.1 billion and to the countries of the Organization of Turkic States, they increased by 12.9% to $11.1 billion, he noted.
Erdoğan said that while making an objective assessment of foreign trade figures of Türkiye, it should not be overlooked that the country had experienced an extremely painful and traumatic year, full of uncertainties, especially in the context of regional developments.
The war between Russia and Ukraine continued in 2024, sometimes reaching very dangerous dimensions. Unfortunately, protectionist measures, which were called temporary during the pandemic process, continued to negatively affect global trade last year, he recalled.
The deterioration in key economic indicators such as consumption, production and inflation that started with the pandemic has yet to be overcome, he stressed.
He noted that geopolitical tensions, political turmoil and the fight against inflation, which has not yet reached the desired levels, left their mark on the world last year
Emphasizing that a relatively better year is expected in 2025, Erdoğan said that according to the OECD's estimates, the world economy is expected to close the year 2024 with a growth rate of 3.2%t and reach a growth rate of 3.3% in 2025.
The negative outlook in Germany, Türkiye's largest trading partner, constitutes an important risk factor for the Eurozone, but Türkiye will try to minimize this risk by finding new markets and new trade partners, the president stated.
"Although the global trade in goods and services gives positive signals for 2025, the unresolved hot conflicts and geopolitical tensions make it essential for us to act more cautiously," he underlined.
Erdoğan stated that the transition period, which started in June 2023 and aimed to create a solid ground in the fight against inflation, ended in June 2024 and the second stage, the disinflation process, started.
Stating that the inflation data for 2024 confirmed the correctness of the policies the country implemented, he said: "Inflation was 1.03% on a monthly basis in December, while it decreased to 44.38% on an annual basis."
Annual inflation fell by 20 percentage points compared to end-2023 and by 31 percentage points compared to its peak in May 2024. In 2025, the inflation rate will be realized in line with the medium-term program and the levels announced in the inflation report, he added.
The Turkish economy, which was $1.13 trillion in 2023, reached $1.26 trillion in the third quarter of 2024 in annualized terms, he said.
On Türkiye's gross domestic product (GDP), Erdoğan said per capita income in the country, which was at $13,243 in 2023, is expected to exceed $15,000 in 2024 and surpass $17,000 in 2025.
He said Türkiye aims to reach 4% growth in 2025 with the support of net exports and fixed capital investments.
Türkiye, growing 2.1% in the third quarter, achieved positive growth rates over the last 17 quarters, he recalled.
