Turkey's current account deficit at $5.4B in April

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's current account deficit hits $5.43 billion in April, marking an increase of $1.7 billion, year-on-year, Turkish Central Bank (CBRT) announced on Monday.

According to the CBRT's report on balance of payments, the country's 12-month rolling deficit reached nearly $57.1 billion in April.

"This development in the current account is mainly attributable to $1,817 million increase in the goods deficit, recording net outflow of $5,462 million and $279 million increase in primary income deficit to $1,489 million," the bank said.

Meanwhile, services surplus recorded a net inflow of $1.47 million, up by $375 million, year-on-year, in April.

Travel, a major item under services, recorded a net inflow of $1.12 million in April, increasing by $366 million compared to the same month in 2017, the bank added.

The CBRT also reported that the country's current account gap in the first four months of this year amounted to around $21.8 billion, rising from $9.7 billion compared to the same period last year.

Turkey's annual current account deficit in 2017 was around $47.3 billion, compared to the previous year's figure of $33.1 billion.

According to official figures, the country's highest annual current account deficit in the last 20 years was in 2011 with $74.4 billion.