Highest trade deficit in Turkey's history

Turkey's trade deficit rose to almost $106 billion in 2011 from $72 billion in 2010. It is the highest trade deficit in country's history.

Turkey had a trade deficit of $8.11 billion in December, lower than $8.7 billion in December 2010, the statistics office said on its website today.

The deficit was expected at $8.6 billion, according to the median estimate of eight economists questioned by Bloomberg.

The gap was $7.5 billion in November last year. Exports rose an annual 5.6 percent to $12.5 billion while imports gained 0.2 percent to $20.6 billion, the office said.