The Trade Ministry has announced that service exports in the first four months amounted to $25.8 billion, with a target to surpass a total of $120 billion for the entire year.

In a statement Friday, the Trade Ministry emphasized the need to bolster and support all sectors of export, including tourism, air, land, sea and rail transportation, health tourism, foreign student enrollment, informatics and software, as well as TV series exports.

Growth in Service Exports

Highlighting Türkiye’s growth in service exports over the past two decades, the statement revealed a significant increase of over sixfold.

Service exports, which stood at $14 billion in 2002, witnessed a 47% surge in 2022 compared to the previous year, setting a new record at $90.5 billion.

Contributing to Current Account Deficit Mitigation

Consequently, the services balance of $50 billion played a pivotal role in mitigating the current account deficit.

Türkiye’s performance in international service exports propelled it to the 23rd position, accounting for a 1.3% share in the global market, according to the statement.

The statement highlighted Türkiye’s notable achievement of registering the highest growth rate among the top 30 exporting countries in the world, following Spain.

With an increase of 22.6% in service exports during the first four months of this year, reaching $25.8 billion, Türkiye solidified its position.

Commitment to Advancing Service Sectors

The Trade Ministry has allocated TL 774.7 million for the service sectors since the beginning of 2023, with a total budget of TL 2.5 billion allocated for 2023.

The ministry stressed its commitment to advancing toward these targets by increasing investments and providing support to sub-sectors and items that contribute positively to the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT)’s Balance of Payments, recognizing that creativity, innovation, and the efficient utilization of resources are crucial in today’s property-intensive world.

The country’s overall exporters have achieved their best May sales ever last month despite a fallout after devastating earthquakes in early February and challenges plaguing the global economy.

Outbound shipments rose 14.4% year-over-year to nearly $21.7 billion (TL 453.12 billion).

Imports rose 16% year-over-year to $34.3 billion in May, the official data showed, driving a 19% increase in the foreign trade deficit to nearly $12.7 billion.

Low growth in the global economy and persistent inflation have made the recovery fragile, the ministry said at the time in a statement. It also stressed the recent turmoil in the financial sector, which it says has worsened expectations.

However, it expressed optimism given the fall in energy prices from 2022 peaks and China’s reopening.

Türkiye is trying to emerge from catastrophic twin quakes on Feb. 6 that killed more than 50,000 people and flattened hundreds of thousands of buildings besides inflicting severe infrastructural damage.

The disaster had disrupted production and supply chains across 11 affected provinces, but the Trade Ministry said data showed economic activity had recovered faster than expected.

The region accounts for more than 20% of the country’s food production, nearly 15% of agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) and almost 20% of the country’s agrifood exports.