Turkey’s current account deficit widened to $32.4 billion in the first half of the year, Central Bank data showed Thursday, as financing the gap is becoming harder and no respite appears in sight for the battered Turkish lira.

The current account registered a deficit of nearly $3.5 billion in June, bringing the cumulative gap to $32.4 billion in the first six months of the year, according to the data.

The widening gap owes to Turkey’s worsening trade imbalance as a result of a global surge in energy and commodity prices, coupled with the continued slump of the lira. Facing crucial elections in June 2023, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has bet on a strategy promoting growth at the expense of inflation hitting near 80%. And growth means ample imports for Turkey’s economy, which relies heavily on foreign inputs, chief among them energy. 

The country’s imports were worth nearly $30 billion in June, a 40% increase from the same month last year. Its monthly energy import bills have reached $7 billion to $8 billion with the surge of global prices. As of June, the 12-month net energy imports were worth some $70.6 billion.