The Turkish Central Bank recorded a USD 3,210 million current account deficit in December 2020, an increase of USD 473 million on the deficit of USD 2,737 million for the same month of the previous year.
The Central Bank showed exports as USD 17,601 million and imports at USD 20,945 million in December 2020, giving a trade deficit of USD 3,344 million, a decrease of USD 329 million (9%) on the trade deficit of USD 3,673 million of the same month of the previous year.
For the total year of 2020, the current account deficit is USD 36,724 million, compared with a surplus of USD 6,759 million for 2019, and deficits of USD 21,743 million for 2018, USD 40,813 million for 2017, and USD 27,039 million for 2016.
With regards items of the current account, the Central Bank’s analysis was as follows :
“The current account deficit recorded USD 3,210 million indicating an increase of USD 473 million compared to December 2019, bringing the 12-month rolling deficit to USD 36,724 million. This development in the current account is mainly attributable to USD 1,163 million decrease in services surplus to USD 644 million, as well as USD 168 million decrease in secondary income surplus to USD 80 million. Gold and energy excluded current account indicated USD 940 million surplus, in comparison to USD 1,579 million surplus observed in the same month of 2019. Goods item recorded USD 3,344 million outflow decreasing by USD 329 million compared to December 2019. Travel item under services recorded net inflow of USD 617 million decreasing by USD 495 million compared to December of 2019. Primary income item indicated net outflow of USD 590 million decreasing by USD 529 million in comparison to December of 2019.”
With regards the related Financial Account, the Central Bank’s analysis was as follows :
“Direct investment recorded net inflow of USD 836 million. Portfolio investment recorded net inflow of USD 5,209 million. As regards to sub-items through liabilities, non-residents’ equity securities transactions and government domestic debt securities transactions recorded net purchases of USD 269 million and USD 1,997 million, respectively. Regarding the bond issues in international capital markets, other sectors realized net repayments of USD 5 million, while banks and General Government realized net borrowing of USD 722 million and USD 2,255 million, respectively. Under other investment, banks’ currency and deposits within their foreign correspondent banks decreased by USD 3,182 million and non-resident banks’ deposits held within domestic banks increased by USD 425 million, on net basis. Regarding the loans provided from abroad, banks, General Government and other sectors realized net borrowing of USD 559 million, USD 129 million and USD 604 million, respectively. Official reserves recorded net inflow of USD 6,734 million.”
The Bank also made revisions to its current account calculations for 2016 thru to 2020 as it specified as follows:
“Year-End Revisions
Based on the year-end studies in accordance with the “Revision Policy”, starting from 2016, a number of revisions mainly in the secondary income, direct investment, portfolio investment and other investment items have been made on the balance of payments statistics. While some of these revisions are only classification changes, others have an impact on the "Current Account" and the "Financial Account", and hence on the "Net Errors and Omissions" item.
As a result of abovementioned revisions, the “Net Errors and Omissions” item has been revised by USD 181 million in 2016, USD 71 million in 2017, USD 147 million in 2018, USD 341 million in 2019 and USD 1,152 million in January-November 2020.”