Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Turkey had a trade deficit of $8.11 billion in December, lower than economists expected.

The deficit declined from $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.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ali Berat Meric in Ankara at americ@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Bentley at mbentley3@bloomberg.net