Current account deficit at $5.4 billion

ANKARA

Türkiye’s current account deficit has widened from $4.9 billion in March to $5.4 billion in April, the Central Bank has announced.

The deficit was $2.54 billion in April last year.

“Gold and energy excluded, the current account indicated net deficit of $480 million in April,” the bank said.

Exports stood at $19.1 billion, while imports were at $26.1 billion, leading to a trade deficit of $7.02 billion, higher than the trade gap of $6.3 billion a month earlier.

Travel item recorded a net inflow of $2.2 billion.

There was a net outflow of $1.2 billion under portfolio investments while direct investments recorded a net inflow of $784 million.

“Non-residents’ transactions on equity securities and government domestic debt securities recorded net sales of $37 million and $6 million, respectively,” said the bank.

Non-resident banks’ deposit accounts held within domestic banks increased by $142 million, with an increase of $302 million in foreign currency and a decrease of $160 million in Turkish Lira accounts, it added.

Turkish banks’ currency and deposits within their foreign correspondent bank accounts decreased by $7 million.

Official reserves decreased by $8.2 billion, the data also showed.

The country’s current account deficit widened to $29.7 billion in the January-April period from a year earlier, with the trade deficit rising from $25.7 billion to $36.3 billion.

The annualized current account deficit stood at $57.8 billion as of April, increasing from the previous month’s $54.94 billion.