Turkey’s current account deficit narrowed sharply to USD 1.44 billion in December 2018 from USD 7.75 billion in the same month a year earlier and compared to market expectations of USD 1.50 billion deficit. The goods account deficit fell sharply to USD 1.68 billion from USD 7.54 billion last year, with imports tumbling 28 percent and exports falling 2 percent; and the primary income gap declined to USD 0.96 billion from USD 1.16 billion. In addition, the services surplus increased to USD 1.07 billion from USD 0.68 billion a year ago, while the secondary income surplus declined to USD 0.14 billion from USD 0.27 billion. Considering 2018 full year, the current account deficit narrowed sharply to USD 27.63 billion from USD 47.35 billion in 2017. Current Account in Turkey averaged -1423.60 USD Million from 1984 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 2597 USD Million in October of 2018 and a record low of -9407 USD Million in March of 2011.
Current Account in Turkey is expected to be -1500.00 USD Million by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Current Account in Turkey to stand at -1020.00 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Turkey Current Account is projected to trend around -2200.00 USD Million in 2020, according to our econometric models.