Turkish gov’t confident of reaching budget goals by year-end

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

Finance Minister Mehmet Şimsek (C) speaks about the government's 2015 budget at Parliament in Ankara. AFP Photo

Turkey’s central government budget ran a 14.9-billion Turkish Lira ($6.7 billion) deficit between January and October 2014, the Finance Ministry said in a written statement on Nov. 17.

The figure constitutes 61 percent of the estimated 33.3-billion lira ($14.9 billion) budget deficit for 2014, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said.

“The number shows that the country will comfortably reach its target for the deficit,” Şimşek said.
According to the ministry, Turkey ran a budget deficit of 3 billion liras ($1.34 billion) in October 2014, down from 7.6 billion liras ($3.4 billion) in the same month last year.

“Despite the financial volatility, geopolitical tensions and a weak trend in the global economy, the country’s performance in the budget deficit target was undeniably a success on a global scale,” Şimşek added.

According to the Finance Ministry, Turkey’s government budget revenues reached 347.7 billion lira ($156 billion) in the first 10 months of 2014, an increase of 8.6 percent compared to the same period of 2013.

However, budget expenditures for the same period rose to 362.6 billion liras ($162.5 billion), a 10.6 percent increase from last year.

The Finance Ministry has estimated that budget expenses for the 2014 fiscal year will reach 436.4 billion liras ($195.4 billion), while budget income for 2014 is estimated to reach 403.2 billion liras ($180.6), resulting in a budget deficit of 33.3 billion liras ($14.9 billion).