Turkey's Current Account Deficit Narrows By $13.6bn

Turkey's current account deficit narrowed by $13.6 billion last year amid low energy prices, the country's central bank said Thursday.

The fall is a continuation of last year's deficit, which was $32.2 billion, down from $45.8 billion in 2014.

In a statement, the bank said the deficit narrowed by almost $1.6 billion in December to $5.07 billion, compared to $6.8 billion in the same month of the previous year.

"The improvement in the current account mainly stemmed from the balance of goods item, which decreased by $1.9 billion from December 2014," the bank said.

The services surplus fell by $171million to $611 million while the primary income deficit stood at $839 million.

Economist Haluk Burumcekci said the sharp drop in the foreign trade deficit in December was main driver for the improvement, adding that low energy imports were a good sign for lowering the current account deficit.

He forecast the end-of-year deficit for 2016 would stand at about $38 billion.

A slump in crude oil prices has seen Turkey record its smallest trade deficit in six years. The trade gap fell to $6.18 billion in the last month of 2015 from $8.5 billion a year earlier.

The country's imports plunged by 17.5 percent to $18 billion, compared with an 11 percent drop in exports to $11.8 billion.

Turkey's energy bill also fell, to $37.8 billion in 2015 from $54.9 billion the previous year.