APD | Turkish economy expects 1.1bn USD current account surplus in July 2020

By APD writer Muhammad Sohail

Economists expect the Turkish economy to run a current account surplus of 1.1 billion U.S. dollars in July 2020, local media reported Thursday.

A group of 14 economists' estimates for the month ranged between a surplus of 160 million US dollars and 1.5 billion US dollars.

The Turkish Central Bank will release the monthly balance of payments figures on Sept. 13.

This June, the current account posted a 548 million US dollars deficit, while in the first half of 2019 the deficit totaled 3.26 billion US dollars.

Meanwhile, the survey showed the end-2019 current account balance is forecast to see a deficit of 4.5 billion US dollars, with the lowest estimated at 2 billion US dollars, and the highest at 9 billion US dollars.

Last year, the current account balance posted a deficit of around 27.6 billion US dollars, improving from a nearly 47.5 billion US dollars deficit in 2017.

Turkey's new economic program, announced in September 2018, targets a current-account-deficit-to-GDP ratio this year of 3.3 percent.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)