Turkey’s budget post $953 mln surplus in January

ANKARA

Turkey’s central government budget balance posted a surplus of nearly 5.1 billion Turkish liras ($953 million) in January, new data from the Treasury and Finance Ministry showed on Feb. 15.

Turkish budget revenues jumped by 66.6 percent year-on-year to hit 97 billion Turkish Liras ($18.1 billion) in January, according to a monthly report.

The budget expenditures stood at nearly 92 billion liras ($17.2 billion) last month, marking a 62.5 percent annual rise.

Excluding the interest payments, the budget balance saw a surplus of 12.4 billion liras (around $2.3 billion) in January, while the interest expenditures were around 7.3 billion liras ($1.36 billion).

The government’s tax incomes reached 55.7 billion liras ($10.4 billion) last month, indicating a rise of a 7.1 percent on a yearly basis.

“Every realization and indicator reveals our firm stance in budgetary discipline,” Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak wrote on Twitter on Feb. 15.

“In the month of January we have uplifted the budget surplus, revenues and primary surplus significantly,” he added.

The average U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was around 5.35 in January.

In 2018, Turkey’s central government budget balance showed a deficit of 72.6 billion liras ($14.8 billion).

The government achieved the target of a 1.9 percent budget-deficit-to-gross-domestic-product ratio in 2018 under the new economic program announced in September 2018.