Türkiye posted a lower-than-expected current account deficit in November, official data showed on Monday, following a five-month surplus cycle.
The balance registered recorded a shortfall of $2.87 billion in November, the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) said.
A survey by Reuters had expected a gap of $3.1 billion. Economists in a Bloomberg survey saw it at $3.35 billion.
The November deficit marked the first shortfall since May. The current account balance showed a surplus of $1.88 billion in October.
From January through November, the balance registered a gap of $5.61 billion, the CBRT data showed.
Türkiye has implemented measures to cap strong domestic demand, one of the main reasons for higher imports, and to boost investments and exports to improve the current account balance.
The central bank's tight monetary policy has helped stabilize demand.
Excluding gold and energy, the current account balance posted a surplus of $3.4 billion in November, while the goods deficit recorded $5.2 billion.
Services saw a net surplus of $3.7 billion, with $1.34 billion net inflows in transportation and $2.63 billion in travel.
The annualized gap deepened to $7.4 billion in November, while goods recorded a deficit of $54.6 billion.
Economists expected the current account deficit to fall in 2024 from the previous year's $45.2 billion, given the tight monetary and fiscal policy.
The central bank launched its easing cycle last month, cutting its benchmark policy rate by 250 basis points to 47.5%, as annual inflation heads down.
Between mid-2023 and last year, strong growth in price gains and currency market pressures had seen it ramp rates up to 50% from 8.5%.
With inflation slowing, the bank is seen continuing with rate cuts, economists say.
The foreign trade deficit, which constitutes a major part of the current account balance, rose 25% and stood at $7.46 billion in November. The January-November deficit fell 26.8% to $73.34 billion.
The median of the current account deficit forecasts in the Reuters poll for 2024 was $10.5 billion, with estimates ranging from $10 billion to $12.43 billion.
The annual current account deficit is expected to widen in 2025 to $16.5 billion, according to the median of institutions who responded to the question in the poll.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the current account deficit will be around $10-11 billion in 2024, standing at a ratio of below 1% of gross domestic product (GDP).
Helping to curb the current account deficit, the government has taken gold trade-related measures, notably interest rate increases, in order to reduce strong domestic demand.
