Turkey’s current account is expected to record a deficit of $2.8 billion in January, with the deficit seen at $32 billion at the end of 2024, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday.
The current account deficit forecasts by the eight economists polled ranged from $2.5 billion to $3.1 billion.
The trade deficit, a major component of the current account, declined 56.4 percent year-on-year in January to $6.23 billion, following government steps to reduce imports and boost exports.
The median forecast for the 2024 full-year deficit was $32 billion, with estimates ranging between $23.6 billion and $41.2 billion.
The current account deficit widened to $48.8 billion in 2022, largely driven by energy and gold, and narrowed slightly to $45.2 billion last year but was above the government forecast of $42.5 billion.
Economists expect the current account deficit to continue to improve in 2024. The government forecast in September that the current account will show a deficit of $34.7 billion this year.
Since June, the central bank has hiked its policy rate to 45 percent from 8.5 percent and pledged to fight inflation and the government has introduced tax and fee hikes to boost its budget income.
It also introduced measures to cap strong domestic demand, one of the main reasons for higher imports, and to boost investments and exports to improve the current account balance.
The central bank is scheduled to announce January current account data at 0700 GMT on March 12.
