Türkiye's current account balance registered a deficit of $4.4 billion in February, official data showed on Monday, driven mainly by an increase in the foreign trade gap.
The shortfall was $3.33 billion in the same month last year and marked a slightly higher figure compared to market forecasts of $4.3 billion.
The goods recorded a deficit of $5.73 billion in February, up from $4.7 billion, the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) said.
The increase stemmed from deteriorating balances in net gold and energy trade.
Services realized a net surplus of $2.45 billion, the data showed. The primary income balance deficit rose from $900 million to $1.2 billion.
The current account is the most complete measure of trade because it includes not only goods and services but investment flows and other payments between Türkiye and the world.
Excluding gold and energy, the balance ran a net surplus of $2.15 billion in February, according to the CBRT.
On the capital account side, inflows amounted to $2.6 billion, a slowdown from the $11.9 billion recorded in January.
With net errors and omissions outflows at $1.1 billion and an increasing current account deficit, official reserves shrank by $2.9 billion in February.
In the first two months of the year, the country posted a current account deficit of $8.4 billion, up from the $5.6 billion gap reported in the same period last year.
The 12-month rolling current account deficit, which began increasing in November of the previous year, was $12.8 billion in February, or about 1% of gross domestic product (GDP).
It is up from $11.8 billion recorded in the previous month.
In the same period, goods recorded a deficit of $58.8 billion, while services posted a surplus of $62 billion.
The future path of the current account balance will likely be influenced by a range of factors, including rising uncertainty from the U.S.-China trade war, falling energy prices, and tighter financial conditions stemming from recent domestic political developments, according to analysts at Dutch banking giant ING.
