Turkey’s 12-month current account deficit stands at $57.4 billion

ANKARA

Turkey’s current account deficit stood at $2.97 billion in June in line with forecasts, data from the Central Bank has shown. 

“The June data indicated a decrease of $818 million compared to June of the previous year, bringing the 12-month rolling deficit to $57,386 million,” the bank said in a statement on Aug. 10.

The country’s current account gap in the first six months of this year hit $31.2 billion, up from $21.3 billion compared to the same period last year.

The goods deficit decreased by $228 million to $4.4 billion in June compared to the same month of 2017, while the primary income gap slipped by $125 million on yearly basis to $1 billion, the bank noted.

“Services item recorded a net inflow of $2.38 billion increasing by $712 million compared to the same month of last year, mainly stemming from a $490 million net increase in travel revenues observing as $1.88 billion in June 2018,” it added.

Investment income under primary income item indicated a net outflow of $951 million decreasing by $119 million in comparison to the same period the previous year, the Central Bank also said.

Under the financial account item, direct investment recorded a net inflow of $951 million.

Official reserves recorded a net outflow of nearly $7 billion, according to the bank data.

Turkey’s annual current account deficit in 2017 was over $47.4 billion, compared to the previous year’s figure of $33.1 billion.t deficit neared $57.4 billion, according to Central Bank data on Aug. 10.