Türkiye's current account deficit narrowed to its lowest level in seven months in May, helped by a strong services surplus despite higher energy costs, while officials said they expect further improvement in the second quarter.
The current account balance posted a deficit of almost $1.46 billion in May, the smallest since October 2025, according to data released by the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) on Monday.
Excluding gold and energy, the balance recorded a surplus of nearly $3.63 billion. The balance of payments-defined foreign trade deficit stood at $4.34 billion during the month.
On a rolling 12-month basis, the current account deficit narrowed to about $37.3 billion, while the foreign trade deficit reached $74.4 billion.
The services balance generated a 12-month surplus of $62.5 billion, while the primary income deficit stood at $24.1 billion and the secondary income shortfall at $1.3 billion.
In May, net services revenues totaled $5.21 billion. Travel services generated a surplus of $3.82 billion, while transportation services contributed $2.24 billion.
Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said the annualized shortfall remained at a sustainable level despite global economic shocks.
"The current account deficit remaining at sustainable levels despite shocks in the global economy demonstrates the resilience of our economy while supporting macro-financial stability," Şimşek wrote on the social media platform X.
“The gross external financing requirement and the gross external debt stock remain below their long-term averages,” he said
Şimşek added that the government would continue implementing structural reforms aimed at increasing high value-added production and exports while reducing Türkiye's dependence on imported energy.
Monday's data showed central bank's foreign exchange reserves declined by $3.3 billion in May, bringing the cumulative fall to $32.3 billion.
The "net errors and omissions" item recorded a net outflow of $77 million, while cumulative outflows reached $18.48 billion in the first five months of the year.
Net direct investment recorded an outflow of $455 million in May.
Foreign direct investment into Türkiye totaled $296 million, while Turkish residents invested $751 million abroad.
In real estate, Turkish residents purchased $143 million worth of property overseas, while foreign investors bought a net $184 million of property in Türkiye.
Portfolio investments registered net outflows of approximately $3.1 billion, with non-residents selling a net $2.79 billion in equities and investment funds and $287 million in government domestic debt securities.
Trade Minister Ömer Bolat said the current account deficit is expected to remain below its historical average as a share of gross domestic product, supported by resilient goods and services exports.
Bolat said the annualized current account surplus excluding gold and energy reached $29.5 billion.
He noted that the net energy deficit rose 53.3% year-over-year to $4.5 billion in May due to higher energy prices, contributing to the overall current account gap.
Annualized services exports increased 3.2% from a year earlier to $122.2 billion, while travel revenues reached $60.1 billion and transportation revenues $42.7 billion, Bolat said.
Combined goods and services exports rose 3.1% to $395.7 billion on a rolling 12-month basis.
Following a 29.6% decline in the foreign trade deficit in April and a further 15.6% drop in May, Bolat said the current account had improved despite geopolitical tensions pushing up commodity and energy prices.
He said the current account deficit, which reached $23.6 billion in the first quarter, could ease to between $12 billion and $12.5 billion in the second quarter, helped by a 10.2% increase in goods exports and a 9.1% improvement in the foreign trade deficit.
