The unemployment rate in Turkey stood at its highest rate for ten years at 14.7 percent in January 2019, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced. It increased 3.9 percent on an annual basis. "The number of unemployed over increased by 1,259,000 to 4,668,000 persons in the period of January 2019 in Turkey compared with the same period of the previous year," the statement read. Turkeys unemployment rate stood at 11 percent in 2018, rising 0.1 percent year-on-year, TurkStat announced. The number of unemployed persons increased by 83,000 last year, reaching nearly 3.537 million people. Last year, the lira lost nearly 30 percent against the dollar leading inflation to increase more than 25 percent before it improved to the level of 20 percent. The World Bank forecast inflation to reach around 12.7 percent during the current year and 11.4 percent in 2020. An international report on bankruptcy by Euler Hermes, a commercial credit insurer, revealed that the number of bankrupt companies in Turkey reached 15,400 companies in 2018 and that the number would rise by 1,000 in 2019. On another level, the figures provided by e-commerce platform Turkeyol indicate that the volume of trade between the Middle Eastern countries and Turkey grew by 25 percent in the last decade to USD42.9 million. The largest growth of trade volume was recorded with Iraq with 141 percent, followed by Yemen with 105 percent, Jordan with 97 percent and Saudi Arabia with 59 percent. 75 percent of the trade between Turkey and the Middle Eastern countries was with Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. The volume of trade between the Middle Eastern countries and Turkey is expected to reach USD50 billion by the end of 2019. Yusuf Yenitürkoğulları, the founder of Turkeyol, said: “E-export is of critical importance for the region," noting that the volume of trade between Turkey and the Middle Eastern countries would increase through e-export. “At Turkeyol, we have set up an online platform for wholesale purchases and sales and eliminated all barriers that might be faced within the course of commercial activities,” he added.