Turkey posts $450 million budget surplus in January

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s central government’s budget balance saw a surplus of 1.7 billion Turkish liras ($450 million) in January, the Finance Ministry announced on Feb. 15.

It stated that Turkey’s budget revenues fell by 1 percent to 58.2 billion Turkish Liras ($15.4 billion) last month compared to the same month of 2017.

Budget expenses, meanwhile, stood at 56.5 billion liras ($14.9 billion), marking a 19.4 percent annual rise.

Excluding interest payments, the budget recorded a surplus of 7.7 billion liras (around $2 billion) in January, while interest expenditures were around six billion liras ($1.6 billion).

The government’s tax revenues reached 52 billion liras ($13.7 billion) in the first month of this year, a 7.4 percent annual rise in tax collection.

Last year, Turkey’s central government budget balance showed a deficit of 47.4 billion liras ($12.9 billion), or around 1.5 percent of the GDP, which was below the expectations. 

Turkey’s budget revenue hit 630.3 billion liras ($172.7 billion) last year, while expenditures were 677.7 billion liras ($185.6 billion), including interest payments.

The government’s annual budget balance saw a non-interest surplus of 9.3 billion liras ($2.6 billion) in 2017, considering interest expenditures of 56.7 billion liras ($15.5 billion).

The government’s medium term program targets a budget deficit/GDP ratio of 1.9 percent in 2018, 1.8 percent in 2019, and 1.6 percent in 2020.

According to the Central Bank, the average USD/TRY exchange rate was 3.78 in January, up from 3.65 in the same month last year.