According to the figures announced by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT), the current account balance had a deficit of 1.4 billion dollars in May. The previous figure was a deficit of $5.7 billion.
Expectations were at the level of 1 billion dollars.
The current balance, excluding gold and energy, gave a surplus of 3.6 billion dollars.
The statement made by the CBRT is as follows:
“According to annualized data, the current account deficit was approximately 37.3 billion US dollars in May, while the balance of payments-defined foreign trade balance had a deficit of 74.4 billion US dollars. In the same period, the services balance had a surplus of 62.5 billion US dollars, while the primary and secondary income balance had a deficit of 24.1 billion US dollars and 1.3 billion US dollars, respectively.
Net inflows from the services balance amounted to 5,207 million US dollars this month, and under this item, net revenues from transportation services and travel items were 2,243 million US dollars and 3,815 million US dollars, respectively.
While net direct investments contributed to the financing of the annualized current account deficit in May 2026 by 1.8 billion USD, net portfolio investments by 5.3 billion USD, loans by 46.7 billion USD and commercial loans by 0.2 billion USD; Net assets and deposits had a negative impact of USD 18.8 billion. The decrease in the Central Bank’s net reserves in foreign currency was 32.3 billion US dollars.
In May, net outflows from direct investments were recorded as 455 million US dollars. While the total direct investments of non-residents to Türkiye increased by 296 million US dollars, the direct investments of domestic residents abroad increased by 751 million US dollars.
When real estate investments are examined, it is seen that domestic residents purchased 143 million US dollars of real estate abroad and non-residents purchased 184 million US dollars of net real estate in Türkiye.
Portfolio investments recorded a net outflow of US$ 3,069 million in May.
It is seen that non-residents made net sales of 2,786 million US dollars in the stock and investment fund market and 287 million US dollars in the government securities market. Regarding bond issues abroad; It is seen that non-residents made net purchases of US$ 562 million and US$ 860 million in banks and other sectors’ issues, respectively, and net sales of US$ 169 million in General Government issues.
While banks and other sectors made a net use of 2,653 million US dollars and 755 million US dollars, respectively, in terms of loans from abroad this month, the General Government made a net repayment of 180 million US dollars.
Under other investments, domestic deposits of foreign banks recorded a net increase of 3,529 million US dollars in total, with a net increase of 1,775 million US dollars and 1,754 million US dollars in Turkish lira and foreign currency, respectively.
“There has been a net decrease of 3,300 million US dollars in official reserves this month.”
