December current account deficit seen at $3.7 billion

ISTANBUL

Türkiye’s current account balance posted a deficit of $3.67 billion in December, according to a survey of economists conducted by the state-run Anadolu Agency.

The Central Bank will unveil the current account balance data for December 2024 on Feb. 13.

Economists’ forecast for the 2024 full-year current account deficit is $9.65 billion, while they expect the deficit to widen to $19.9 billion in 2025.

According to the latest data from the Central Bank, the current account ran a deficit of $2.87 billion in November. This marked the first deficit since May 2024.

The current account balance constantly produced surpluses between June and October 2024.

The annualized current account deficit increased from $7.13 billion in October to $7.37 billion in November.

In January-November 2024, the current account balance posted a deficit of $5.6 billion, shrinking from a deficit of $38.7 billion in the same period of the previous year.

In the upcoming period, the Central Bank expects the current account deficit to widen, Governor Fatih Karahan said on Feb. 7, when he presented the bank’s inflation report.

“However, it will be limited on the back of our tight monetary stance. We project that the current account deficit relative to GDP will remain below its historical average in 2025,” Karahan said.