Turkey's current account to show surplus: Survey

By Erhan Cihan Unal

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's current account balance is expected to show a surplus of $1.97 billion on average in September, according to an Anadolu Agency survey done on Friday.

The country's balance of payments figures for September will be released by the Turkish Central Bank on Monday, Nov. 12.

The current account surplus estimates of a group of 19 economists vary between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion.

For the first time in the past three years, Turkey's current account balance posted a surplus in August -- totaling $2.59 billion, improving sharply from a $923 million deficit in same month last year.

The Anadolu Agency survey also showed on average that Turkey's year-end current account deficit would be $35.7 billion -- ranging between $28.5 billion and $41 billion.

Last year Turkey's annual current account deficit was some $47.5 billion -- around 5.6 percent of the country's GDP. Over the last two decades, the country's highest annual current account deficit was seen in 2011 with $74.4 billion.

The country's new economic program, announced in September, is targeting a current-account-deficit-to-GDP ratio of 4.7 percent this year, 3.3 percent next year, 2.7 percent in 2020, and 2.6 percent in 2021.

*With writing and contributions by Muhammed Ali Gurtas from Ankara