Turkey pays $7 bln for energy in first quarter

Turkey’s energy exports in the same period jumped by 16.5 percent, from $727 million to $847 million. The share of energy in imports in the same period last year was 20.8 percent. In the first quarter of 2006, $6.1 billion of the entire import volume  was paid for energy needs. In all of 2006, $28.6 billion went to energy imports, whereas this figure in 2005 was $21.2 billion. In 2003, when prices were relatively lower, energy’s share in total imports was only 16.7 percent. Going down to 14.7 percent in 2004, it increased to 18.2 percent in 2005. In 2003, Turkey paid $11.6 billion of its total imports -for energy. These figures rose in 2004: energy imports to $14.4 billion, and also in 2005, with  $21.2 billion.