Turkey’s current account gap widens in May

ANKARA

Turkey’s current account gap widened higher than expectations in May from a year ago, data from the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey has shown.

According to the data released on July 11, the current account deficit rose to $5.9 billion in May from $5.4 billion in the corresponding month last year, with a nearly 9.6 percent year-on-year increase.

The expectations were at $5.3 billion for this month.

“This development in the current account was mainly attributable to $678 million increase in the goods deficit recording net outflow of $6.5 billion and $214 million rise in primary income deficit to $1.2 billion,” the Bank said.

Service items recorded a net inflow of $1.9 billion, increasing by $768 million compared to the same month of the previous year, mainly stemming from a $549 million net increase in travel revenues, which were observed as $1.7 billion in May 2018, it added.

The country’s 12-month rolling deficit reached $57.6 billion in May, the data also showed.

In the first five months of the year, the gap stood at $27.7 billion.

Turkey’s annual current account deficit in 2017 was around $47.3 billion, compared to the previous year’s figure of $33.1 billion.

According to official figures, the country’s highest annual current account deficit in the last 20 years was in 2011 with $74.4 billion.