Turkey Posts Current-Account Deficit for Fifth Month in April

(Bloomberg) --

Turkey’s current account remained in deficit in April as exports again dropped faster than imports amid a global economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

The current-account balance -- the broadest measure of trade in goods and services -- had a gap of $5.06 billion, worse than the $4.4 billion median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of nine analysts. The annual deficit was $3.29 billion compared with a surplus of $1.3 billion in March.

Key Insights

• Official reserves fell $8.61 billion as government-owned banks sold dollars to support the currency.
• Intervention via state lenders continued at a time of volatile capital flows. Non-residents sold $847 million of Turkish stocks and $1.01 billion of government bonds.
• Net errors and omissions, or capital movements of unknown origin, showed a monthly outflow of $1.23 billion.

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• Turkey’s exports fell 41.4% annually to about $9 billion in April, while imports fell 25% to $13.6 billion, according to data published by the statistics office in Ankara.
• Turkey’s Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said on May 6 that he expects an improvement in the current-account balance this year.
• The government’s current-account target is a deficit equivalent to 1.2% of gross domestic product in 2020 and 0.8% in 2021.

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