Turkey’s current account deficit rose by 46% y/y to $5.43bn in April while the January-April deficit also rose, by 80% y/y to $21.8bn, the central bank announced on June 11.

The market was expecting a deficit of $5.3bn for the month, according to a Reuters poll of economists. The widening gap is a big worry for those trying to get a grip on Turkey's overheating economy, which other data released on June 11 showed grew at the stellar rate of 7.4% in the first quarter of this year.

The 12-month cumulative deficit reached $57.1bn in April, up from $55.4bn in March and $34.1bn in April 2017.

“The April BoP data just affirmed the problems, with the current account deficit for the month rising to $5.4bn, up from $3.7bn one year earlier and to an annualised level of $57bn or around 6.4% of GDP,” Tim Ash of Bluebay Asset Management said in an emailed note.

Turkey’s foreign trade shortfall increased by only 5% y/y to $7.72bn in May after widening alarmingly across the first four months of 2018, preliminary data from the customs ministry showed on June 4.

Anxieties over Turkey's overheating economy have strengthened over the sucking in of imports caused by the credit-fuelled economy. Turkey has one of the worst current account deficits in the world. Together, the May data on foreign trade and the PMI figures could be straws in the wind evidencing a slowdown in economic activity.

Turkey's economic health is dangerously reliant on hot inflows of foreign external financing to enable growth. The political and economic outlook in the country is not secure enough to attract sufficient longer-term stable foreign investment capital.

“There is a risk of a hard landing for Turkey’s overheating, credit-fueled economy,”  S&P said on May 1 when it cut Turkey’s credit rating further into junk. “This is reflected in the rising imbalances in Turkey’s economy, most notably in its widening debt-financed current account deficit and high inflation.”

Moody's Investors Service said in a credit outlook report released on April 16 that Turkey’s current account deficit for February came in 60% larger than a year ago, “the result of an economy growing significantly above potential going into a second [consecutive] year”.