Treasury runs $63.7 billion cash deficit in 2024

ANKARA

The Treasury's cash balance ran a deficit of 2.1 trillion Turkish Liras ($63.7 billion) in 2024, the Treasury and Finance Ministry data has shown.

Cash revenues of the Treasury stood at 8.9 trillion liras, while its expenditures totaled 11 trillion liras.

Its interest payments came in at 1.2 trillion liras last year.

Excluding interest payments, the cash balance showed a 929.2 billion liras of deficit.

In December alone, the Treasury's cash deficit came in at 323.9 billion liras, while its revenue was at 882.7 billion liras and expenditures were at 1.2 trillion liras.

Budget discipline is maintained at a time when the country is recovering from the impacts of the earthquakes, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said at an event in Istanbul on Jan. 8.

“We will continue to ensure budget discipline to finance reforms. We will permanently reduce the ratio of interest payments to national income below 3 percent, thus allocating more resources for investments,” he added.

With the economic program they have been implementing in the last year and a half, they reduced the economy’s vulnerabilities and established macro financial stability, the minister also said.

Global developments will reveal Türkiye's increasing geopolitical importance, and this will become clearer in 2025, according to Şimşek.

In the short run, the outlook is supportive of the government’s medium-term program, economic activity in the country and its exports, Şimşek said.

Pointing out that about 76 percent of Türkiye’s exports go to Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Şimşek noted that the projected growth in those regions in 2025 is much more positive than in 2024 and 2023.