Turkey recorded its largest-ever current account surplus in August, boosted by strong tourism revenue and a narrowing trade deficit, offering brief relief to the country’s fragile external finances, Bloomberg reported.
According to data released by the central bank, the current account posted a surplus of $5.46 billion, slightly above expectations. The positive balance was driven largely by a surge in tourism revenue and a smaller trade gap.
Turkey’s popular coastal resorts drew millions of European and Russian visitors during the summer season. The services sector, which includes tourism, travel and other non-goods exports, made $9.5 billion more in revenue than it spent, resulting in a services surplus, including $7.7 billion from tourism alone.
The improvement helped narrow the country’s 12-month current account deficit to $18.3 billion in August. But economists warned that the trend may not last since a sharp rise in gold imports could reverse the gains in the coming months.
“The 12-month deficit is likely to widen again in September due to higher gold imports,” said Erkin Işık, chief economist at QNB Finansbank, who expects the annual shortfall to reach around $23 billion by the end of the year.
Şimşek hails ‘record’ surplus
Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek celebrated the data in a post on X on Monday, describing the surplus as the highest monthly figure in Turkey’s history.
“In August, we recorded a current account surplus of $5.5 billion, the highest monthly surplus in our history,” Şimşek wrote. “As a result, the annual deficit narrowed to $18.3 billion, an improvement of $37.6 billion compared to May 2023.”
Ağustosta 5,5 milyar dolar ile tarihimizin en yüksek aylık cari fazlasını verdik.
Böylece yıllık cari açık 18,3 milyar dolara gerilerken 2023 yılı Mayıs ayına göre iyileşme 37,6 milyar dolar oldu.
Cari açıktaki bu iyileşme ülkemizin dış finansman ihtiyacını azaltıyor. Nitekim… pic.twitter.com/mMWBwGNMfJ
— Mehmet Simsek (@memetsimsek) October 13, 2025
He added that the decline in the current account deficit was helping reduce Turkey’s external financing needs.
“In June 2023 our gross external financing requirement stood at 23 percent of GDP,” he said. “We project this will fall to around 17 percent by [the end of] 2025. With lower foreign exchange needs, stronger access to external financing and rising reserves, our macro-financial resilience is improving.”
Tourism lifeline
Tourism remains one of Turkey’s most vital sources of foreign currency, contributing nearly 12 percent of GDP and supporting about 3.2 million jobs, roughly one in 10 workers. In 2023 Turkey hosted about 57 million visitors and earned $56.44 billion from tourism. In 2024, the number of foreign arrivals was approximately 52.6 million and revenue reached a record $61.1 billion.
Turkey has long struggled with a chronic current account deficit, one of its key economic vulnerabilities, due to its dependence on imported energy and raw materials. The shortfall has made the country reliant on volatile capital inflows to finance its external obligations.
After his 2023 re-election President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appointed Şimşek as treasury and finance minister, a move widely viewed as signaling a partial return to more orthodox economic policies.
The central bank under the new regime has raised its one-week repo policy rate at various points, most notably increasing it to 50 percent in March 2024 to fight surging inflation and support the lira.
But policy shifts have been uneven, including occasional rate holds or cuts.