Turkey’s current account gap exceeds expectations at $4.96 billion

As a result, the 12-month rolling deficit increased to $45,499 million from the deficit of $43,924 million.
Current account stood at $2 billion in January and at $3.2 billion in February this year. 

The deficit is still much lower than the average monthly figures of previous years, mainly due to lower oil prices. The decline, however, also reflects a slowing in the economy as well as a decrease in buying imported goods, according to analysts. 

The recent increase in the current account deficit was mainly fuelled by the foreign trade deficit, which rose by $1.5 billion to $4.86 billion, while the services surplus fell by $47 million to $1.08 billion and primary income deficit rose by $50 million to $1.26 billion, over the same period, according to the Central Bank data. 

Net gold exports fell by $427 million to $822 billion in March, from the same month of the previous year. The direct investment items under primary income involving distributed profits recorded a net outflow of $411 million, increasing by $82 million over the same period.

Direct investment recorded a net inflow of $280 million with a decrease by $622 million compared to the same month of the previous year.