The decline in the current account (CA) deficit may be much bigger than previously expected this year, finance minister Mehmet Simsek said on Tuesday.
The CA deficit will improve due to a weaker TRY, moderate domestic demand, reviving external demand, and decline in gold imports, Simsek explained, stressing that macroprudential measures will help to curb consumer loan growth.
Turkey’s current account deficit is running at around 7% of its GDP. In November 2013, the CA deficit came in at USD 3.9bn, lower than the market consensus forecast of USD 4.2bn. The CA deficit increased to USD 55.96mn in January-November from USD 45.63bn in the same period of 2012. The government expects the CA deficit to be USD 55.5bn or 6.4% of GDP this year.
Simsek separately said that the government is working on reforms targeting corruption. The planned reforms will make Turkey more transparent and accountable. The minister did not say when these measures would be unveiled.
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