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Turkish exports plunge

Turkish businesspeople have long advocated a cheap currency as a means to boost exports, but despite the plummeting Turkish lira, a combination of external factors have led to an alarming decrease in exports.
Women sit and look at a container ship navigate through the Suez canal near Ismailia port city, northeast of Cairo May 2, 2014. Egypt has extended the bidding deadline to July 3 in an international auction of 22 concessions for oil and gas exploration, an official with the state-owned gas company said on Wednesday.The previous deadline for companies to submit bids for concessions in the Suez Canal, Egypt's western desert, the Mediterranean sea and the Nile Delta had been May 19. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
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Turkey’s foreign trade is navigating troubled waters. Despite a significantly weakened Turkish lira, exports have kept dropping over the past six months. According to the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TIM), exports stood at $73.26 billion in the first half of 2015, down 8.1% from the same period last year. Following a staggering 19% decrease in May, the downward trend slowed down in June, with exports decreasing 6.4% compared with the same month last year.

In 2014, Turkish exports had hit an all-time high in Republican history, rising 4% from the previous year to reach $157.6 billion. But the record-breaking drive proved short-lived. Only six months later, the 12-month value of exports is down to $150.8 billion.

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