Türkiye’s current account logs record $5.5 billion surplus in August
Türkiye’s current account balance beat estimates as it registered its highest monthly surplus on record in August, official data showed on Monday, driven by strong tourism revenues.
The balance posted a $5.46 billion surplus last month, the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) said.
That followed a $1.77 billion surplus in July, the first surplus in nine months, and marked the largest monthly surplus since records began in 1984.
Surveys had estimated a surplus of around $4.3 billion.
“We recorded the highest monthly current account surplus in our history with $5.5 billion,” Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said, stressing that the need for external financing has decreased, while Trade Minister Ömer Bolat said they estimate a monthly surplus of around $1 billion for September as well.
Excluding gold and energy, the balance posted a net surplus of $10 billion in August, while goods recorded a deficit of $2.8 billion, the central bank said.
The annualized total exports of goods and services rose by 3.8% compared to the same month of the previous year, reaching $389 billion, Bolat wrote on the social media platform X.
“Thus, the target of $390 billion in goods and services exports set at the beginning of the year was nearly achieved by August.”
In August, net inflows from services balance totaled $9.5 billion, with transportation and travel services generating net revenues of $2.77 billion and $7.66 billion, respectively.
Net inflows from direct investments amounted to $986 million, the data showed. Portfolio investments recorded a net outflow of $662 million in August, while official reserves increased by $5.75 billion.
From January through August, the balance posted a $15.85 billion deficit, while the goods deficit was $44.53 billion.
During the same period, services had a net surplus of $41.23 billion, while primary and secondary income had net deficits of $122 billion and $0.49 billion, respectively.
On a 12-month rolling basis, the deficit narrowed to $18.3 billion, compared to $18.8 billion in July and marking an improvement of $37.6 billion compared to May 2023.
“This improvement in the current account deficit reduces our country’s need for external financing,” Şimşek wrote on X.
While the gross external financing need was 23% of national income in June 2023, it is projected to decline to around 17% in 2025, the minister said.
“Thanks to reduced foreign exchange needs, increased access to external financing, and our high reserves, our macro-financial resilience is strengthening.”
Bolat said services exports continued their strong performance, increasing by 6.1% year-over-year on an annualized basis to reach $119.9 billion as of August.
Travel revenues reached $58.1 billion and transportation revenues were $41.5 billion on an annualized basis, he added.
The government’s newly updated medium-term program sees the current account-to-GDP ratio at 1.4% in 2025. That is estimated to fall to 1.3% in 2026 and 1.2% in 2027, before reaching 1% in 2028.
The deficit is seen narrowing to $18.5 billion by 2028, from $22.6 billion this year, according to the program.
