Turkey's current account balance posts surplus after 10 months

Turkey's current account balance posted a surplus of $528 million (TL 4.73 billion) in August, versus a deficit of $4 billion in the same month last year, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) announced on Monday.

According to the balance of payment figures released by the bank, the country's 12-month rolling deficit totaled $23.03 billion.

With the August figures, the current account balance posted a surplus for the first time after a 10-month period.

The 12-month rolling deficit also saw its deepest point during the last 13 months in August.

The bank said: "This development is mainly driven by the net outflow of $2.75 billion in the goods item decreasing by $2.6 billion compared to August of the previous year and the net inflow of $4.07 billion in services item increasing by $2.28 billion."

The country's current account balance, excluding gold and energy, posted a surplus of $4.43 billion in August, up from a $1.54 billion surplus in the same month last year.

The travel item, under services, recorded a net inflow of $3.4 billion in August.

Haluk Burumcekci, an Anadolu Agency (AA) analyst, said that with August figures, the recovery trend continues in the current account.

Stressing that preliminary figures show that the foreign trade deficit will narrow, he forecasted that the current account deficit will continue to drop thanks to the recovery in the tourism and transportation sectors.

An AA survey last week showed that a group of 16 economists' projections for the August current account deficit was within a range of $190 million, between a $950 million surplus and a $1.4 billion deficit.

The survey also projected that the end of 2021 current account balance will have a deficit of $20.39 billion.

In July, the current account posted a $1.13 billion deficit.