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Türkiye posted a $9.7 billion current account deficit in March, the highest since January 2023, as surging energy costs amid the Iran war widened the trade gap and fueled capital outflows, pushing the annualized deficit to $39.7 billion.
The figure already exceeded the government’s full-year 2026 current account deficit forecast of $22.3 billion under the Medium-Term Program, with the January-March gap alone reaching $23.7 billion.
According to the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT), the main driver of the deficit was portfolio investments, which posted a sharp net outflow of $14.8 billion in March, with foreign investors offloading $1 billion in equities and $6.4 billion in government bonds.
The current account balance excluding gold and energy recorded a $3.9 billion deficit, while the foreign trade gap reached $9.5 billion. Energy imports showed a net $100 million increase, with total expenditure rising by $765 million to $5.6 billion.
Net inflows from services reached $2.6 billion during the month, supported mainly by transportation and travel revenues. On an annualized basis, Türkiye’s foreign trade deficit widened to $77.8 billion, while the services balance posted a $63.1 billion surplus.
Direct investments posted a net outflow of $212 million in March. Foreign residents increased their direct investments in Türkiye by $1 billion, while Turkish residents raised overseas direct investments by $1.3 billion.
In real estate, Turkish residents purchased $187 million worth of property abroad, while foreign investors bought a net $243 million in property in Türkiye.
Türkiye faced market turmoil after the outbreak of the war, triggering a broad sell-off in Turkish assets as part of a wider market retreat driven by global inflation concerns over surging oil prices.
In response, the central bank raised funding costs to 40% in the early days of the conflict and later kept its policy rate unchanged at 37% during two consecutive Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meetings.
Since then, the central bank has heavily intervened in the market to prevent sharp fluctuations in the Turkish lira against the U.S. dollar, offloading nearly $60 billion from its reserves in net terms at the peak of the rout.
The policymakers also relaunched dollar-for-Turkish lira and dollar-for-gold swap transactions to support liquidity and stabilize financial markets.
Throughout the month, the central bank sold $52.5 billion in net reserves, while gross reserves declined by $43.4 billion, according to the data.
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