Turkey: Current account gap at $5.9B in May

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA

Turkey's current account deficit has widened by $516 million year-on-year, to reach nearly $5.88 billion in May, the central bank announced Wednesday.

The country's 12-month rolling deficit reached $57.6 billion in May, according to the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) report on balance of payments.

The goods deficit rose by $678 million to $6.498 billion while primary income gap increased by $214 million to $1.156 billion in the month.

"Services item recorded net inflow of $1,907 million, increasing by $768 million compared to the same month of the previous year, mainly stemming from a $549 million net increase in travel revenues observing as $1,697 million in May 2018," it said.

Meanwhile, the country's current account gap in the first five months of this year amounted to $27.7 billion, rising from $10.2 billion compared to the same period last year.

On Monday, Anadolu Agency Finance Desk’s survey of 14 experts predicted the current account deficit at $5.5 billion in May. Economists also forecast the year-end current deficit average at $53.6 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.