Türkiye's current account deficit maintained its narrowing trend in March, official data showed on Monday, with officials attributing the course to the policies under the government's medium-term economic program.
The shortfall came in at $4.5 billion, compared to $5.25 billion in March last year, the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) said.
Excluding gold and energy, the current account balance posted a surplus of over $780 million, up from around $600 million a year ago, the data showed.
This marks an improvement of $25.8 billion in annualized deficit from its peak in May 2023, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek and Trade Minister Ömer Bolat said.
The annualized gap reached as high as $57 billion last May. It narrowed to $31.2 billion as of this March, according to the official data.
"The continued decline in the annual current account deficit for eight months is a success of our program," Şimşek wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
The data showed the goods shortfall fell to $5.19 billion in March, down from $6.37 billion a year earlier.
Bolat said the annualized trade deficit decreased by $30.4 billion in the last 10 months, resulting in a 45.2% reduction in the current account deficit compared to last May due to the impact of policies implemented in foreign trade.
He said the trade gap decreased by 22% to $91.9 billion in the last 10 months.
The services surplus registered a surplus of $2.2 billion, versus $2.4 billion in March 2023, the CBRT said.
Tourism, under services, posted a net inflow of $2.1 billion, the data showed.
"A significant decrease in the current account deficit has been recorded with the results of measures aimed at increasing goods and service exports and reducing imports," said Bolat.
"The downward trend in the annualized current account deficit is expected to continue and is anticipated to fall below $30 billion in May 2024," he added.
The data showed the primary income gap rose to $1.6 billion this March from $1.35 billion, while secondary income recorded a net inflow of $12 million.
The current account is the most complete measure of trade because it includes investment flows and trade in merchandise and services. A deficit means Türkiye is consuming more from overseas than it is selling abroad.
The current account deficit in 2023 as a whole was $45.2 billion, down from $48.8 billion in 2022.
The gap has decreased to approximately 2.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter, Şimşek said. The government sees the ratio ending 2024 at around 2.5%.
"With the confidence in our program, our risk premium is decreasing, and access to foreign finance is increasing," he noted.
"Excluding reserves (official and banking), capital inflows in March were over $20 billion annually above the current account deficit."
Şimşek said with the narrowing current account deficit and positive outlook in the foreign financing inflows, "improvement in our foreign exchange reserves will continue."
"This will further strengthen macro-financial stability and contribute significantly to the disinflation process," he added.
Bolat said positive developments in the foreign trade balance transformed economic growth into a more balanced structure and strengthened macroeconomic stability by providing improvement in the current account.
