Turkey's current account deficit stood at $2.6 billion in July, down more than $500 million year-on-year largely due to the closing gap between imported and exported goods, according to balance of payments data released by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) Friday. Therefore, the 12-month rolling deficit occurred as $28.9 billion. The reduction was also helped by lower oil prices.

However, the bank said the economy could have performed better if the services surplus had not suffered a $1.42 billion loss because of the shrinking tourism sector.

Revenue from tourism, which makes up most of the services sector, fell to $5 billion in the second quarter of the year, a decrease of 35.6 percent from the same period last year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced in July.

Tourism revenue from the first six months was $9.04 billion, down from $12.6 billion one year earlier.

On the other hand, regarding the financial account, direct investments recorded a net inflow (increase in net liabilities) of $458 million which corresponds with a decrease of $ 2.1 billion compared to the same month of the previous year.