Turkey Posts 11th Straight Current-Account Deficit in October

(Bloomberg) -- Turkey’s current account remained in deficit for an 11th month in a row amid a deteriorating trade balance.

The gap in Turkey’s current-account -- the broadest measure of the country’s trade in goods and services -- stood at $273 million in October. The median of 14 estimates in a Bloomberg survey was for a shortfall of $0.1 billion.

The deficit narrowed from a revised $2.56 billion in September. The 12-month rolling deficit reached $33.8 billion from $30.8 billion in the previous month.

Key Insights

• Official reserves rose by $4.2 billion. The government’s eurobond sales totaled $2.5 billion during the month while private companies, including banks, sold a total of $700m worth of debt abroad
• Net errors and omissions, or capital movements of unknown origin, showed a monthly inflow of $1.6 billion, taking the outflow in the first 10 months of the year to $5.8 billion

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• Data last month showed the trade gap widened in October for the third straight month as consumers kept hoarding gold to protect against inflation. Foreign tourist arrivals decreased 59.4% in October from a year ago.

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