Citi warns of widening current account deficit in Türkiye

The bank's economists, İlker Domaç and Gültekin Işıklar, forecast that the current account deficit as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) will increase from 1.9% at the end of 2025 to 2.7% by the end of 2026. Despite recording a $4.05 billion current account surplus in August, Türkiye's annualized current account deficit stood at $42.1 billion.

According to Citi's analysis, Türkiye's current account deficit reached $31.5 billion in the first eight months of 2026, an increase of $11.8 billion compared with the same period last year. The deterioration was driven by a $4.6 billion increase in the energy deficit and an $11 billion contraction in the core current account surplus. The bank emphasized that a sustainable improvement in the current account balance would require not only lower energy prices but also stronger competitiveness and reduced dependence on imports.