Türkiye runs current account deficit of $6.8 billion in January

ANKARA

In January, Türkiye's current account balance recorded a net deficit of $6.8 billion, the country’s Central Bank said on March 12.

The current account balance, excluding gold and energy, indicated a net deficit of $1.23 billion, the bank added.

Due to rising energy prices amid geopolitical tensions, the current account deficit in 2026 may exceed our program projections, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said, commenting on the latest Central Bank numbers.

“We assess that this increase will be manageable, thanks to our strengthening macroeconomic fundamentals,” he said in a post on X.

“With the program we have implemented, external financing needs and indebtedness have decreased while the resilience of our economy against shocks has increased. The ratio of gross external debt stock to GDP fell to 32.6 percent in 2025,” he noted.

“We will continue to implement policies that reduce vulnerabilities, support high value-added production,” Şimşek said.

The government’s medium-term program projects a current account deficit of $22.3 billion for 2026.

Goods recorded a deficit of $6.9 billion while services saw a net surplus of $2.6 billion in January, showed the bank data. 

According to annualized data, the current account deficit was recorded at $32.9 billion in January, while the goods deficit stood at $71.2 billion.

In the same period, services recorded a net surplus of $63.1 billion.

Separate data from the bank on March 12 showed that Türkiye's gross external debt stock totaled $519.9 billion as of the fourth quarter of 2025.

The total debt increased by 4 percent compared to the previous quarter.

During the same period, short-term external debt increased by 0.4 percent to $167.4 billion, while long-term external debt rose by 5.8 percent to $352.6 billion.