Caglayan: "Turkey's exports this year exceeded $112 bln"

Turkey met its exports target for 2010 at the beginning of this week, said Foreign Trade Minister Zafer Caglayan on Wednesday. Speaking to the Economic Journalists Association in Istanbul, Caglayan announced that the country's total annual exports exceeded $112 billion as of Tuesday, and that in December exporters reached the highest business volume in the past 27 months. Turkey 's foreign trade deficit also rose 107 percent in the first 11 months of 2010 year-on-year. The country's total export volume for January-November was $102 billion, an 11 percent rise over a year ago, but imports for the same period were $165 billion, in a 31 percent year-on-year increase. The resulting foreign trade deficit is $62.8 billion, up from last year's $33.8 billion.