Treasury’s cash budget deficit declines in March

ANKARA

The Treasury’s cash balance posted a deficit of 167 billion Turkish Liras ($5.21 billion) in March, declining from the deficits of 201.5 billion liras in January and 202 billion liras in February.

Cash revenues, which stood at 627 billion liras and 559 billion liras in the previous two months, amounted to 518 billion liras last month.

Expenditures were 685 billion liras, falling from 829 billion liras in January and 761 billion liras in February.

Interest payments, which climbed to 107 billion liras in January, dropped to 63.3 billion liras last month.

Consequently, the cash balance produced a primary deficit of 103 billion liras in March, after posting a deficit of 148 billion in the previous month. In January, the primary deficit was 94.5 billion liras.

In the first three months of 2024, the cash budget ran a deficit of 570 billion liras.

Revenues were 1.7 trillion liras in the January-March period.

Expenditures amounted to 2.27 trillion liras, with interest expenditures standing at 225 billion liras.

The central government budget posted a deficit of 1.37 trillion liras last year, when the earthquake-related expenditures exerted an additional burden on the budget. In 2022, the budget deficit was 143 billion liras.

In the medium-term program, the government forecasts a deficit of 2.65 trillion liras or 6.4 percent of GDP for 2024. According to the government estimates, the deficit will shrink to 1.8 trillion liras next year and down to 3.4 percent of national income in 2025.