Turkey's trade deficit expanded 26.4 percent to 32.1 billion dollars (27 billion euros) in the third quarter from 25.4 billion dollars in the same period last year, the State Statistics Institute said Monday.

Imports climbed by 20.8 percent to 85.7 billion dollars while the value of exports rose by 17.7 percent to 52.9 billion dollars, it said.

In September alone, imports soared 20.6 percent to 10.2 billion dollars and exports climbed 16.7 percent to 6.5 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.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005