ANKARA: Turkey’s annual current account deficit narrowed to $3.7 billion in June, a fall of $1.2 billion year-on-year, the central bank said Friday. The June deficit was expected to be around $4.1 billion. Considering June’s deficit data, the 12-month rolling deficit stands at $34.3 billion, the bank said. According to the bank, the deficit in the first half of the year was $20.77 billion. The import-export balance of goods was reduced by $670 million in Turkey’s favor to $4.57 billion, while the country’s income from services rose $491 million to $1.68 billion.
Economists estimate the current account deficit for the end of 2017 to be around $38.5 billion. Indicating that the balance-of-payments deficit was lower than expected, Kutay Gözgör, the assistant director of the Economics Desk at Nişantaşı University, said that the positive contribution of net exports to growth figures will continue and the increase in official reserves was positive. “When we look at the details of the export, we see that export figures continue to be positive. The amount of exports in June was $13.88 billion. Imports, on the other hand, stood at $18.455 billion in June after reaching $20.163 billion in May. With these figures, we can see that net exports continue to contribute to second quarter growth figures. When we look at the current picture, the contribution of net exports to growth may approach around two points. At the same time, the increase in reserves continues. The reserve increase was $2.97 billion in June. The increase in tourism revenues and official reserves, and the contribution of net exports to growth are positive developments,” Gözgör said.
