ANKARA: Turkey's current account is expected to record a deficit of nearly $3.8 billion in March, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday, while the annual deficit for 2021 is seen narrowing due to higher exports and the return of tourism revenue.

Turkey's import-reliant economy, worth $717 billion in 2020, has been prone to big trade deficits and a boom-bust growth cycle that was exacerbated by last year's pandemic.

The current account recorded a deficit of $36.72 billion in 2020 due mostly to a sharp rise in the trade deficit and plunging tourism revenues due to coronavirus fallout.

The median estimate in a Reuters poll of 10 economists showed a deficit of $3.8 billion in March, with estimates ranging between deficits of $3.5 billion and $4.3 billion.

A major component of the current account, the trade deficit narrowed 14.9% year-on-year to $4.65 billion in March, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute.

An uptick in tourism revenue and exports are expected to narrow the deficit in 2021 as a whole compared to last year. The median estimate for the full-year deficit was $24.5 billion, in a range of $10 billion to $32 billion.

Turkey's 12-month current account ended 2019 in surplus for the first time since 2001, though the monthly reading dipped back towards the end of the year as the economy recovered from a recession brought on by a 2018 currency crisis.

The central bank is scheduled to announce the March current account data at 0700 GMT on May 11.