UPDATE - Turkey's current account gap at $1.8B in January

UPDATES WITH DETAILS

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's economy ran a current account deficit of $1.8 billion in January, below the median of analysts' forecasts, the Turkish Central Bank revealed Wednesday.

The gap widened $1.5 billion compared to the same month of last year, bringing the 12-month rolling surplus to $6.5 billion, the bank said in a statement.

The median of economists' forecasts surveyed by Anadolu Agency was $2.4 billion of the current account deficit for January, while the year-end overall current account forecast was $14.3 billion gaps.

The gap was mainly driven by nearly $2 billion year-on-year rise in good deficit which recorded net outflow of $3.2 billion in January.

The net inflow at the services item rose $78 million to $1.6 billion, the bank said.

"Travel item under services recorded a net inflow of $1.1 billion, increasing by $112 million compared to the same month of last year," it added.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), the country's foreign trade deficit grew 94.3% on an annual basis, reaching $4.45 billion in January.

The bank also made revisions for previous years in line with foreign trade statistics disseminated by TurkStat.

"Current account deficit decreased by $8.4 billion in 2013, $6.1 billion in 2014, $5.0 billion in 2015, $4.7 billion in 2016, $6.0 billion in 2017, $7.5 billion in 2018 and current account surplus increased by $6.3 billion in 2019," the bank said.