By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's central government budget balance saw a deficit of 23.2 billion Turkish liras ($5.98 billion) in the January-April period, the Finance Ministry announced Tuesday.
According to an official statement, Turkey's budget revenues stood at 232 billion Turkish liras ($59.8 billion) from January to April, going up by 17.3 percent on a yearly basis.
In the same period, the budget expenses amounted to 255.2 billion Turkish liras ($65.8 billion), marking an 18.3 percent annual rise.
Excluding interest payments, the central government budget balance saw a surplus of 2.2 billion Turkish liras ($569.5 million) over the same period.
The average U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate in the first four months this year was around 3.88, according to the Central Bank.
