UPDATE -Turkey's current account deficit widens in June

*UPDATES WITH COMMENTS BY EXPERTS AND ANALYSTS
ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s current account deficit stood at $4.94 billion in June, up more than $1.7 billion year-on-year due to the decline in income from tourism and increase in imports, the Central Bank said Thursday.
The 12-month rolling deficit rose to $29.4 billion, up from $27.7 billion in May of the year.
A fall in the services surplus and an increase in the deficit in goods trade and primary income was the main reason for the increase, the bank said.
"This development in the current account is mainly attributable to $1.23 billion decrease in the services surplus to $1.2 billion and $326 million increase in the deficit in goods item reaching to $5.2 billion," the bank said in a statement on its website.
KapitalFx Analyst Enver Erkan cited that fall in tourism income had negative effect on the deficit results and causing a loss to the country's tourism income this year.

“Deficit in foreign trade narrowed around $5 billion compared to 2015 [and] continues to improve in the yearly basis," KapitalFx analyst Enver Erkan said.
Turkey's revenues from tourism fell to $5 billion in the second quarter of the year, a 35.6 percent decline from the same period in the previous year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said on July 29.
The country’s first half-year total revenue from tourism was $9.04 billion, down from $12.6 billion a year earlier.
Erol Gurcan, research analyst at Gedik Yatirim, echoed Erkan's comments on the tourism income, saying, it related mainly to the decline in number of Russian tourists.
The number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey in the first half of the year decreased to 183,828, an 87.36 percent decline compared to the same period in 2015, according to data by the Tourism Ministry.
Gurcan said the number of tourists from Europe also declined because of uncertainty in the continent after the U.K. voted to leave the EU and had a clear influence on the current account deficit.
"Normally, the number of tourists from the Middle East countries should have compensated for travel items under services but coinciding with the holy month of Ramadan in June might have a bit negative effect," Gurcan said.

"There is a notable decrease in foreign direct investment compared to the same month of 2015, Adnan Cekcen," deputy research manager at Destek Yatirim said. However, Cekcen said that the most important reason for the increase in the deficit is the decline in tourism income.
- Tourism valuable source of foreign currency for Turkey
Meanwhile, first half of the year has traditionally been the low season for tourism, as the winter months attract a smaller number of tourists, who visit to the country's world-famous resorts and historic monuments.
Income from tourism is a valuable source of foreign currency for Turkey, constituting nearly 4 percent of national income last year with $31.5 billion.

On July 29 , the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said, the country's exports in June rose 8.1 percent to $12.9 billion, and its trade deficit widened by 5 percent, following rising (7 percent to $19.5 billion) imports from a year earlier.
In the first half of the year, exports shrank by 2.4 percent compared to the same period the previous year, while imports dropped by 6.7 percent, stemming from a 16 percent reduction in the foreign trade gap to $28 billion.