ANKARA, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Türkiye's central bank said Monday the country's current account deficit reached nearly 9.85 billion U.S. dollars in January, following a rapid increase in gold imports and soaring energy import bills.
The central bank's statistics showed that excluding gold and energy, the current account has a net surplus of 2.6 billion dollars in January.
Among items constituting the current account balance, foreign trade in goods recorded a deficit of 12.43 billion dollars, while the services registered a net surplus of 3.16 billion dollars.
Under trade in services, travel item showed a surplus of 2.45 billion dollars.
The current account deficit in January beats the record 9. 41 billion dollars deficit in March 2011, according to official statistics.
Meanwhile, Türkiye's 12-month rolling deficit widened to 51.7 billion dollars in January, the highest level since February 2014.
The Turkish government practices an economic model that pursues a current account surplus through higher exports and low-interest rates, despite rising inflation and a depreciation in the local currency. ■