Turkey's trade deficit soared by 26.5 percent to 28.5 billion dollars in the first eight months of 2005 from 22.5 billion dollars in the same period last year, the State Statistics Institute said Friday.
Imports jumped by 20.7 percent to 74.7 billion dollars between January and August while exports rose by 17.4 percent to 46.2 billion dollars, the institute said.
In August alone, imports climbed by 28.9 percent to 10.1 billion dollars while exports increased by 13.4 percent to 5.3 billion dollars.
The embattled Turkish lira has steadily regained value over the past two years as the economy emerged from a severe financial crisis that erupted in 2001.
The government, buoyed by improving macroeconomic indicators under a recovery program backed by the International Monetary Fund, eliminated six zeroes from the currency on January 1 in a major money reform.