Turkey’s budget performance strong despite political uncertainty: Şimşek

ISTANBUL - Reuters

DHA Photo

Turkey’s budget showed a strong performance in the first eight months of the year despite political uncertainty and market volatility, but budget discipline must be maintained, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek stressed on Sept. 15.

Şimşek said fiscal discipline was essential for fighting the current account deficit and inflation, for boosting growth and for making the country resistant to external shocks, in a written statement after data showed a budget surplus of 639 million Turkish Liras ($210 million) in the first eight months of the year. 

“The budget showed a strong performance despite the general election in June, lower-than-targeted growth levels, geopolitical tensions, fluctuations in financial markets and political uncertainties. We need to continue to maintain a strong budget discipline as this is Turkey’s sole anchor in the short-term and the global economy may soon face Fed and China shocks,” he noted. 

Turkey’s central government budget showed a surplus of 5.2 billion liras ($1.71 billion) in August 2015, compared with a surplus of 5.9 billion liras in the same period last year, according to the data.

The budget showed a primary non-interest surplus of 8.9 billion liras in August, compared with a primary surplus of 8.7 billion liras in the same period last year.

The budget showed a deficit of 5.4 billion liras ($1.77 billion) in July, compared with a deficit of 5.3 billion liras in the same period last year. 

The budget showed a primary deficit of 350 million liras in July, compared with a primary deficit of 877 million liras in the same period last year.