Budget posts deficit of 178 billion liras in April

ANKARA

The central government budget produced a deficit of 177.8 billion Turkish Liras ($5.5 billion) in April, rising 34.2 percent from a year ago, data from the Finance Ministry showed.

In March, the deficit was 209 billion liras.

Revenues increased by 122 percent annually with tax collection rising nearly 110 percent. The value-added tax and special consumption tax revenues rose by 151 percent and 82 percent, respectively, compared with April 2023.

Overall expenditures amounted to 774 billion last month, pointing to a 93.2 percent increase from a year ago.

Interest expenditures were up 231 percent to 114 billion liras, while non-interest expenditures rose 80.2 percent to 660 billion liras.

The budget produced a 63.8 billion liras of primary deficit, which was 35 percent smaller than the deficit recorded in April last year.

In the first four months of 2024, the central government budget ran a deficit of 691 billion liras, marking an 80.7 percent increase from the same period of last year.

The year-on-year increase in revenues was 110 percent to 2.23 trillion liras. Tax revenues showed an annual rise of 112 percent to 1.83 trillion liras.

Expenditures amounted to 2.92 trillion liras in January-April, rising more than 102 percent from a year earlier.

Interest expenditures were up 169.7 percent to 365 billion liras, while non-interest expenditures grew 95 percent to 2.6 trillion liras.

Consequently, the primary deficit widened 32 percent year-on-year to 326.8 billion liras in the first four months of 2024.