Current account deficit comes in at $4.5 billion in March

ANKARA

The current account balance posted a deficit of $4.54 billion in March, narrowing from $5.25 billion in the same month of last year, data from the Central Bank has shown.

Analysts had expected the current account deficit to come in at less than $4 billion.

The 12-month rolling current account deficit eased from $31.94 billion in February to $31.2 billion in March.

The goods deficit widened from $4.8 billion in February to $5.2 billion in March, but “gold and energy excluded, the current account indicated a net surplus of $782 million,” the bank said in a statement on May 13.

The trade deficit amounted to $14.4 billion in the first quarter of 2024, down from a gap of $29.5 billion in the same period of last year.

Under services, the travel item recorded a net inflow of $2.1 billion in March and the inflows stood at $6.2 billion in the first four months of the year, up from $5.96 billion a year earlier.

Direct investment recorded net outflow of $224 million, but there was a net inflow of $287 million in the January-March period.

“Portfolio investment recorded a net outflow of $96 million… As regards to sub-items of liabilities, non-residents’ transactions on equity securities recorded net purchases of $236 million and government domestic debt securities recorded net sales of $361 million,” said the Central Bank.

From January to March, portfolio investment inflows amounted to $5.3 billion against an outflow of $331 billion in the same period of last year.

Non-resident banks’ deposit accounts held within domestic banks increased by $1.4 billion, with an increase of $938 million in foreign currency and an increase of $464 million in Turkish Lira accounts.

Official reserves declined by $10.3 billion in March and the drop in the official reserves amounted to $22.7 billion in the first four months of 2024.