Central government budget deficit widens in February

ANKARA

The central government budget posted a deficit of 310 billion Turkish Liras ($8.4 billion) in February, up from the deficit of 154 billion liras in the previous month, data from the Finance Ministry showed on March 17.

The budget deficit also widened by 102 percent year-on-year.

Expenditures increased by 49.8 percent last month to more than 1 trillion liras, with interest expenditures surging 155 percent from a year ago to 140 billion liras.

Non-interest expenditures amounted to 894 billion liras, marking a 41 percent annual increase.

Revenues were up 34.9 percent compared to January 2024 to 723.4 billion liras. Tax revenues increased by 44 percent to 585 billion liras.

The central government budget ran a primary deficit of 170.4 billion liras in February compared to the primary deficit of 98.97 billion liras in the same month of last year.

In January this year, the budget produced a primary surplus of 23.8 billion liras.

In the first two months of 2025, the budget deficit widened 47.6 percent annually to 449.4 billion liras.

Expenditures rose by 43.3 percent to 2.1 trillion lira, while revenues were up 42 percent to 1.64 trillion liras.

Interest expenditures amounted to 303 billion liras in January-February, up 72 percent year-on-year.

The primary deficit was 146.6 billion liras in the first two months of 2025, against the primary deficit of 129 billion liras in the same period of 2024.