Turkey runs over $3 bln budget surplus in January as revenues on rise

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

REUTERS photo

The Turkish government ran a budget surplus of 11.4 billion Turkish Liras ($3.06 billion) in January amid a significant rise in revenues, the country’s finance minister said Feb. 15.        

“The budget showed a solid performance in the first month of the new year,” Naci Ağbal said.  
     
Official data showed Turkish government revenues in January stood at 58.8 billion liras (some $15.8 billion), a 25.8 percent increase year-on-year.        

“Last month, the government’s tax revenues rose 22 percent to reach 48.4 billion liras [around $13 billion] and tax-excluded incomes stood at 10.4 billion liras [$2.8 billion], up 47.2 percent over the same month in 2016,” Ağbal said.        

Ağbal stated that budget expenditures in January also rose to 47.3 billion liras ($12.7 billion) in line with year-end targets, an 11.3 percent rise from a year earlier.
       
The finance minister also stressed that the government made nearly 6.5 billion liras ($1.74 billion) in interest payments last month, amid a nearly 18 billion-lira ($4.84 billion) budget surplus excluding debt interest payments.        

Last year, Turkey’s government ran a 29.3 billion-lira ($7.81 billion) budget deficit. According to the ministry, government budget revenues reached 554.4 billion liras ($148 billion) in 2016, up 14.8 percent over 2015.        
Budget expenditures for 2016 rose to 583.7 billion liras ($155.6 billion), a 15.3 percent rise year-on-year. Interest expenses stood at 50.2 billion liras ($13.4 billion) in that period, down 5.2 percent from the previous year.