Budget deficit narrows to $7 billion in March

ANKARA

The central government budget posted a deficit of 261.5 billion Turkish Liras ($7 billion) in March, the Finance Ministry said on April 15.

This was lower than the deficit of 310 billion liras the central government budget produced in February. Compared to March last year, the budget gap widened by 25 percent.

Expenditures surged 48.3 percent year-on-year to more than 1 trillion liras last month, with non-interest expenditures rising 40 percent to 867 billion liras.

Interest expenditures amounted to 161 billion liras, surging 116 percent compared to March last year.

Revenues increased by 58.4 percent from a year ago to 766 billion liras, the ministry data showed.

Tax revenues rose by 53.4 percent year-on-year to 645 billion.

Consequently, the central government budget produced a primary deficit of 100 billion liras in March, down from the primary deficit of more than 134 billion liras in the same month of last year.

The primary deficit was 170 billion in February, while the budget ran a primary surplus of 24 billion liras in January.

In the first three months of 2025, the central government budget posted a deficit of 710.8 billion liras, rising 38 percent from the same period of last year.

Expenditures rose 45 percent annually, with non-interest expenditures up 39.7 percent.

In the first quarter, interest expenditures amounted to 464 billion liras, pointing to an 85.2 percent year-on-year increase.

The budget produced a primary deficit of 247 billion liras against the primary deficit of 263 billion liras in January-March 2024.

The government targets a budget deficit of 1.93 trillion liras or 3.1 percent of the estimated GDP in 2025.