Türkiye's current account balance posted a surplus for the second consecutive month in July after registering the first excess in months in June, official data from the country's central bank showed on Thursday.
The balance registered a surplus of $566 million (TL 19.24 billion) for the month, the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) said. The figure increased from a downwardly revised $330 million surplus in June.
Excluding gold and energy, the current account registered a surplus of $4.9 billion for the month, according to the CBRT.
In July, the goods deficit reached $5.2 billion, while the services sector posted a net surplus of $6.9 billion. The travel category contributed a net inflow of $5.6 billion within the services sector.
From January through July, the current account balance saw a $16.05 billion gap.
The monthly surplus came slightly below expectations in a poll of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, who anticipated it to be around $600 million.
According to the central bank's data, direct investment recorded a net inflow of $670 million in July, while portfolio investment saw a net inflow of $3.73 billion in the same period.
Commenting on the data, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat noted that the 12-month current account deficit fell below $20 billion for the first time since April 2022.
He attributed the surge in exports and drop in imports to also supporting a balanced growth structure.
"The major improvement in the current account continues to present a positive picture for the future of our economy by strengthening macroeconomic stability," Bolat said in a post on X.
Pointing to the figures released by the central bank, the minister said that the current account gap in the January-July period decreased by 61.8% compared to the same period of the previous year.
"Thus, the annualized current account deficit, which peaked at $57.0 billion in May 2023, decreased by $37.9 billion in the following months and fell to $19.1 billion as of July 2024," he added.
He also noted that the annualized foreign trade deficit also regressed in the same period, falling to $39.8 billion.
"In July 2024, our annualized exports increased by 3.4% annually and rose to $261.5 billion. In the same month, annualized imports declined by 8.0% and fell to $343.9 billion. The annualized foreign trade deficit decreased by 32.0% to $82.4 billion, while the export-import coverage ratio increased by 8.4 percentage points and became 76.0%," he said.
Furthermore, he suggested that the decline in the foreign trade deficit is also accompanied by an increase in service exports.
"On an annualized basis, service revenues renewed a record in July with $106.8 billion. Travel revenues, including services, rose to $52.4 billion," said Bolat.
According to the minister, the trend of increase in exports and decrease in imports is expected to continue throughout 2024, and it is anticipated that foreign trade will make positive contributions to the current account balance and economic growth.
Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek voiced Bolat, also highlighting the annualized current account deficit fell below $20 billion in July.
"The decreasing current account deficit and increasing foreign resource inflows contribute to permanent reserve accumulation," Şimşek said on X.
Furthermore, he said that the "highest monthly portfolio inflow in 10 years occurred in July," adding that the total inflow in the last year was $34.5 billion.
"Thanks to the confidence in the program that we have implemented, capital inflows (including net errors and omissions, excluding reserves) reached $43.3 billion in the last year," he noted.
"We aim to make the gains we have achieved in macroeconomic and financial stability permanent and to take them even further with structural reforms," he added.
"We will continue our efforts to attract foreign direct investments to our country, especially those that accelerate technological transformation, increase competitiveness and improve financing quality."
