Balance Of Payments Developments In January-november 2003

ANKARA - Current account balance showed a deficit of 4 billion 203 million U.S. dollars in January-November 2003.
According to figures of Central Bank, the current account balance had a deficit of 466 million U.S. dollars in November 2003.
It should be noted that revisions in the tourism data which is provided by the related surveys conducted at customs, and revisions in foreign trade data changed the previous current account figure from a deficit of 119 million U.S. dollars into a surplus of 59 million U.S. dollars in October 2003.
Below is the balance of payments developments in January-November 2003:
I- CURRENT ACCOUNT
Following a three-month period of surplus, the current account balance showed a deficit of 466 million U.S. dollars in November 2003, bringing cumulative deficit to 4.203 million U.S. dollars in January-November 2003. It should be noted that revisions in the tourism data which is provided by the related surveys conducted at customs, and revisions in foreign trade data changed the previous current account figure from a deficit of 119 million U.S. dollars into a surplus of 59 million U.S. dollars in October 2003.
Foreign Trade:
In comparison with the same period of the previous year, the foreign trade balance recorded a deficit of 11.200 million U.S. dollars increasing by 63,3 percent in January-November 2003. The key factors underlying this development are:
- the increase of export (FOB) revenues by 29,2 percent, realizing as 42.385 million U.S. dollars,
- the decrease of shuttle trade by 3,7 percent, realizing as 3.599 million U.S. dollars,
- the increase of import (CIF) expenditures including gold imports by 31,4 percent, realizing as 60.679 million U.S. dollars.
Services:
When compared to the same period in 2002, services surplus amounted to U.S. dollars 8.836 million by a 17,5 percent increase in January-November 2003, mainly due to increase in the tourism revenues. According to the latest figures of the related surveys disseminated by State Institute of Statistics, over the same period, the tourism revenues amounted to U.S. dollars 9.353 million by a 13,9 percent increase. The increase in tourism revenues is stemmed from 5,7 percent increase in the number of foreign visitors, and 7,8 percent increase in the average expenditures of the foreign visitors. For the entire January-November 2003 period, the net tourism revenues amounted to U.S. dollars 7.396 million by a 14,8 percent increase.
In line with the increasing trade volume, transportation revenues and expenditures, the other important item of this category, indicated an increase of 14,7 percent and 25,9 percent, respectively. Thus, compared to the same period of the previous year, net transportation revenues recorded a decrease of 9,6 percent amounting to U.S. dollars 715 million in 2003.
Income:
Investment income, which had shown a net outflow of U.S. dollars 4.130 million in January-November 2002, also recorded a net outflow of U.S. dollars 5.049 million in the same period of 2003. The main components of investment income, direct investment income, portfolio investment income, and other investment income consisting of the interest income and expenditures had shown a net outflow of U.S. dollars 216, 1.163 and 3.670 million in January-November 2003, respectively.
In January-November 2003, interest expenditures of long-term loans increased by 5,2 percent, realizing as U.S. dollars 3.948 million. Among the important items under this heading are the interest expenditures of long-term loans of the General Government and the interest expenditures of the deposit accounts opened with the Central Bank.
Current Transfers:
In comparison with the same period in 2002, current transfers decreased by 1,6 percent, realizing as U.S. dollars 3.210 million in January-November of 2003. Meanwhile, workers' remittances, one of the main sub-items of current transfers, realized as U.S. dollars 2.070 in the same period of 2003. Imports with waiver, the other significant sub-item, recorded a decrease of 10,4 percent, realizing as U.S. dollars 883 million.
II- CAPITAL AND FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS
In January-November 2003, while there is no transaction recorded in the migrants' transfers, which is the sub-item of capital account, the main developments in financial account are summarized below:
Direct Investment:
With regard to the direct investments, non-resident' net direct investment in Turkey, which includes the loans received from foreign direct investors abroad, recorded an inflow of U.S. dollars 89 million in November 2003. However, in comparison with the same period of 2002, a 54,3 percent decrease amounting to U.S. dollars 458 million was observed in January-November 2003. U.S. dollars 164 million of this amount belongs to the net loans received from foreign direct investors abroad.
Residents' net direct investment abroad, which had shown an increase of U.S. dollars 89 million in January-November 2002, also resulted in an increase of U.S. dollars 439 million in January-November 2003.
As a result, direct investments had shown an inflow of U.S. dollars 19 million in net terms in January-November 2003.
Portfolio Investment:
Portfolio investment, which had resulted in a net outflow of U.S. dollars 552 million in November 2003, had shown a net outflow of U.S. dollars 732 million and a net inflow of U.S. dollars 2.239 million in January-November of 2002 and 2003, respectively.
As for the developments in portfolio investments' assets side, it is observed that residents' security transactions abroad recorded net purchases of U.S. dollars 1.948 million, and of U.S. dollars 1.127 million in January-November 2002 and 2003, respectively.
As for the developments in portfolio investments' liabilities side, general government's borrowing through bond issues in international capital markets, realized as net borrowings of U.S. dollars 1.243 million in January-November 2002, and of U.S. dollars 1.509 million in January-November 2003. Besides, a repayment of U.S. dollars 459 million was observed in November 2003.
Non-residents' net purchases of equity securities sustained the upward trend and increased by U.S. dollars 192 million in November 2003, resulting with net purchases of U.S. dollars 954 million for the entire January-November 2003 period. As regards the government debt securities issued in the domestic capital markets, non-residents' net purchases of U.S. dollars 1.080 million were recorded in January-November 2003.
Other Investments:
The other investment account, which is composed of trade credits, loans and foreign exchange deposit accounts, recorded a net inflow of U.S. dollars 7.191 million in January-November 2002, and of U.S. dollars 1.675 million in January-November 2003.
a. Assets:
Trade credits, which are extended in return for export-related transactions, realized in net terms as U.S. dollars 1.070 and 596 million in January-November of 2002 and 2003, respectively. With regard to the loans sub-item, while a net repayment of U.S. dollars 56 million realized in January-February 2002, U.S. dollars 392 million was extended in January-November 2002.
Banks' foreign exchange holdings with foreign correspondents, which decreased by U.S. dollars 894 million in January-November 2002, also decreased by U.S. dollars 1.258 million in the same period of 2003.
b. Liabilities
The liabilities side of other investment indicates that trade credits, which are mainly received with the aim of financing imports, realized a net disbursement of U.S. dollars 2.177 million in January-November 2002. Over the same period in 2003, a net disbursement of U.S. dollars 1.537 million, of which U.S. dollars 852 million consists of long-term and U.S. dollars 685 million consists of short-term, was observed.
With regard to the sub-categories of the loans, due to the International Monetary Fund loans, while a net repayment of U.S. dollars 6.138 million and of U.S. dollars 1.356 million were realized by the Central Bank in January-November of 2002 and 2003 respectively, General Government did not realize any disbursement or repayment in November 2003. In addition, for the entire period January-November 2003, a net repayment of U.S. dollars 1.927 million was materialized by the General Government for the loans used from international capital markets and other international organizations. Finally, a net repayment of U.S. dollars 1.423 million and a net disbursement of 578 million were realized by the Banks; a net disbursement of U.S. dollars 614 million and of U.S. dollars 729 million were also realized in the Other Sectors, in January-November of 2002 and 2003, respectively.
FX deposit accounts, which had increased by U.S. dollars 431 million in January-November 2002, increased in the amount of U.S. dollars 1.227 million in January-November 2003, owing to the increase of U.S. dollars 736 million in deposit accounts opened with the Central Bank and an increase of U.S. dollars 491 million in deposit accounts opened with the resident banks.
Reserve Assets:
Official reserves, which is the last item of financial account, had increased by U.S. dollars 6.045 million in January-November 2002, and also increased by U.S. dollars 2.630 million in January-November 2003.

(BRC-AÖ) 29.01.2004