Turkey’s current account deficit above expectations

ANKARA

Turkey’s current account deficit stood at $31.92 billion in the January-May period of 2013, indicating an increase of $5.8 billion over the same period of the previous year, the Central Bank announced today.
While the deficit decreased to $7.52 billion in May from $8.17 billion in the previous month, it was still higher than the expected figures, which were around $6.6 billion.

The increase in the current account deficit mainly stems from the $4.9 billion increase in the foreign trade deficit, which was recorded at $33.8 billion in the first five months of the year. It was also affected by the $1.5 billion outflow in May 2013 realized in direct investment, the bank said.

With regard to non monetary gold items, gold imports were recorded at $7.42 billion, increasing by $5 billion in comparison with the same period in 2012. Gold exports were recorded at $2.19 billion, decreasing by $1.82 billion in comparison with the same period in 2012.

In the services account, the travel revenues increased by $1.69 billion, reaching $8.27 billion. Travel expenditures increased by $425 million in comparison with the same period of the previous year, reaching $1.9 billion.