Budget balance posts $19 bln deficit in Jan-Nov

ANKARA-Anadolu Agency

The Turkish central government posted a budget deficit of 132.5 billion Turkish liras ($19 billion) in January-November, the Treasury and Finance Ministry said on Dec. 15.

The data showed that reading widened 42.1 percent compared to the same period last year.

The country’s budget revenues rose 16.1 percent year-on-year, reaching 932 billion Turkish liras ($134.2 billion) in the first 11 months of 2020.

Spurred by the coronavirus pandemic, the country’s budget expenditures hit 1.6 trillion Turkish liras ($230.6 billion) from January to November, up 18.8 percent on an annual basis.

The budget balance, excluding interest payments, posted a deficit of 3 billion Turkish liras ($43 million).

Tax revenues amounted to 754.6 billion Turkish liras ($108.7 billion), while interest payments were 129 billion Turkish liras ($18.5 billion) in the same period.

Monthly figures

In November, the budget balance registered a surplus of 13.4 billion Turkish liras ($1.6 billion).

Turkey’s budget revenues totaled 109.7 billion Turkish liras ($13.7 billion) last month, up 31.8 percent from November 2019.

Budget expenditures in the month totaled 96.3 billion Turkish liras ($12 billion), up 27.5 percent compared to the same month last year.

Excluding interest payments, the central government budget balance saw a surplus of 23 billion Turkish liras ($2.9 billion) last month.

The average U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate in November was 7.9915 while one dollar traded around 6.9491 Turkish liras on average in January-November 2020.