BY ALAATTIN AKTAS
The revision in travel revenues announced by TurkStat was reflected in the balance of payments data from the the Central Bank (CB), dating back to 2012. The current account deficit (CAD) declined by USD 26.71bn from 2012 to August 2022, but the figure was USD 26.79bn in the CB’s revision statement. The improvement in the current account balance was also reflected in net errors and omissions (E&O) in 2012-2021. However, something different happened between January and August 2022. This year’s revision reduced the CAD by USD 4.7bn and net E&O by nearly USD 6bn. The CAD rose from USD 6.1bn to USD 38bn in 2022, compared to 2021, after the foreign trade deficit (FTD) increased from USD 20.6bn to USD 68.1bn. The surge in FTD stemmed from an import increase. Exports rose by 3% and imports jumped 32% in October, year-over-year. FTD rose from USD 1.5bn to USD 8bn and the annualized FTD climbed from USD 43.5bn to USD 103.4bn in the same period. The USD 8bn FTD is expected to create a CAD of around USD 4bn. But CAD may remain below this figure as travel revenues have started to be measured more realistically this year.
