Tuba Sahin
12 February 2021•Update: 12 February 2021
ANKARA
Amid pressure from the coronavirus pandemic, Turkey ran a current account deficit of $36.7 billion in 2020, the Turkish Central Bank announced on Friday.
The figure widened from a surplus of nearly $6.76 billion the previous year, with revisions, the bank said.
The virus pushed foreign trade gap up while cutting the country's services and primary income last year.
In December 2020, the balance posted a $3.2 billion deficit, a rise of $473 million from the same month of the previous year, according to data.
The rise in December figures was led by decreases in surpluses in services and secondary income.
An Anadolu Agency survey last week showed a panel of 13 economists forecast an annual deficit of $39 billion, ranging between $37.8 billion and $41.3 billion.
The survey also predicted the current account balance would show a deficit of $3.6 billion in December.
In November 2020, the current account posted a $3.63 billion deficit.
Services surplus slipped by $1.16 billion to $644 million in December 2020 while secondary income surplus decreased $168 million to $80 million, it said.
Gold and energy excluded current account balance registered a surplus of $940 million in the month, shrinking from $1.6 billion surplus from a year earlier.
Net inflow in travel item under services dropped $495 million on an annual basis to $617 million in December.
On the positive side, goods item recorded $3.3 billion outflow (balance of payments-defined foreign trade deficit), decreasing $329 million year-on-year.
Last December, direct investments recorded net inflow of $836 million, the bank added.
