UPDATE - Turkey's current account posts $528M surplus in August

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS, COMMENTS BY ANADOLU AGENCY ANALYST

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's current account balance posted a surplus of $528 million in August, versus a deficit of $4 billion in the same month last year, the Turkish Central Bank announced on Monday.

According to the balance of payments figures released by the bank, the country's 12-month rolling deficit totaled $23.03 billion.

With August figures, the current account balance posted a surplus for the first time after a 10-month period.

The 12-month rolling deficit also saw the deepest point during the last 13 months in August.

The bank said: "This development is mainly driven by the net outflow of $2.75 billion in the goods item decreasing by $2.6 billion compared to August of the previous year and the net inflow of $4.07 billion in services item increasing by $2.28 billion."

The country's current account balance, excluding gold and energy, posted a surplus of $4.43 billion in August, up from a $1.54-billion surplus in the same month last year.

The travel item, under services, recorded a net inflow of $3.4 billion in August.

Haluk Burumcekci, Anadolu Agency analyst, said that with August figures, the recovery trend continues in the current account.

Stressing that preliminary figures show foreign trade deficit will continue to narrow, he forecasted that the current account deficit will continue to drop thanks to the recovery in the tourism and transportation sectors.

An Anadolu Agency survey last week showed that a group of 16 economists' projections for the August current account deficit was $190 million – ranged between $950 million surplus and $1.4 billion deficit.

The survey also projected that the end-2021 current account balance will have a deficit of $20.39 billion.

In July, the current account posted a $1.13 billion deficit.