Declining imports reduce foreign exchange need in Turkiye

The Texhibition Fair, organised by the Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters Association (?TH?B) at the Istanbul Expo Centre, started yesterday. The Turkish Commerce Minister Ömer Bolat, Istanbul Governor Davut Gül, the President of Turkish Exporters Assembly (T?M) Mustafa Gültepe, ?TH?B President Ahmet Öksüz, and many guests attended the opening of the fair. Minister Bolat made an opening speech and stated that textile and ready-made clothing were the first industrial sectors in Turkiye.

He noted that signals of a serious improvement were received in the textile and apparel industries in the first 2 months of the year and added that there was a 6 percent increase in textile and raw material exports in January and February.

“Our exports reached 1 billion 587 million dollars, and hopefully we will exceed the level of 9 billion 456 million dollars in 2023. The decreasing trend in the garment industry has also approached its minimum. It was 4.5 percent. Hopefully, they will start to see growth as of spring, and with the increase in demand in Europe and America, we will improve the figures in apparel. As the Ministry of Commerce, we stand by exporters. We allocate 60 percent of our budget to you," he said.

Minister Bolat also drew attention to the narrowing in the foreign trade deficit. He pointed out that they managed to achieve a decline in imports, and the ratio of exports to imports increased to 75 percent. Bolat noted that they saved 13.5 billion dollars in the foreign trade deficit in two months. He noted that the foreign trade deficit, which was 122.5 billion dollars in May 2023, decreased to 93 billion dollars in February. Bolat stated that there was a decrease of 29 billion dollars in 9 months. Bolat added that Turkiye's need for foreign currency has decreased, and they have achieved this by closing the foreign trade deficit and current account deficit.

Bolat emphasised the importance of the textile and apparel industry's compliance with the "Green Deal", and noted that compliance with the green transformation is very important in order not to be at a disadvantage when exporting to the European Union. Explaining the support they provide in this regard, Bolat said that the consultancy service expenses received by companies within the scope of the Green Deal Compliance Project Support, which was recently implemented, can reach up to 10 million lira.

He explained that it would be supported by the ministry.

Talking about the advantages provided by corporate tax for exporters and the financing provided by Türk Eximbank, Minister Bolat said, "Eximbank's capital has been increased for the third time in 9 months. We will provide promotion and brand support to textile and ready-made clothing exporters with the changes we have made in support of the Turquality promotion project. In the earthquake zone, which is the centre of textile. We extended the Turquality support programs for our provinces for another year."

Minister of Commerce Bolat said that Turkiye continues to be a production and supply base in textile, ready-made clothing, and other related sectors. He stated that Covid-19 revealed the importance of the supply chain Bolat continued: “The epidemic showed that Turkiye is a country that provides supply, logistics, and can sell very high-quality products in 2-3 days, and provided great support and motivation to our exports. The 1 trillion dollar threshold was exceeded for the first time in the history of the Republic, and the national income per capita in Turkiye, which reached a national income of 1 trillion 119 billion dollars, rose to 13 thousand 110 dollars."