Current account deficit at $359 million in October
ANKARA
Türkiye’s current account balance posted a deficit of $359 million in October, down from a deficit of $2.88 billion in September, the Central Bank has reported.
Exports stood at $21 billion, while imports amounted to $27.5 billion, leading to a foreign trade deficit of $6.46 billion in October.
“Excluding gold and energy, the current account posted a net surplus of $8.64 billion,” the bank said.
Services recorded a net surplus of $6.7 billion, and the travel item posted a net inflow of $5.18 billion, according to data the Central Bank released on Dec. 12.
There was an inflow of $743 million through the direct investments item, while portfolio investments recorded a net inflow of $302 million in October.
“Non-residents’ transactions on equity securities and government domestic debt securities recorded net sales of $417 million and $125 million, respectively,” the bank said in a statement.
Regarding the bond issues in international capital markets, banks realized net repayments of $1.39 billion, while the general government and other sectors realized net borrowing of $2.5 billion and $22 million, respectively.
There was an inflow of $660 million through the net errors and omissions item, and the inflows via this item amounted to $20.97 billion in January-October.
Official reserves recorded a net inflow of $5.06 billion in October and a new inflow of $6.26 billion in the first 10 months of 2022.
The country’s current account deficit widened from $1.95 billion in the January-October period of 2021 to $38.2 billion in the same period this year.
“Gold and energy excluded, the current account indicated a net surplus of $43.04 billion in the same period,” the Central Bank said.
In the latest Medium-Term Program, the government forecast that the current account deficit will shrink from an estimated $47.3 billion in 2022 to $22 billion next year and further down to $13.7 billion in 2024.
