UPDATES WITH MORE FIGURES AND MINISTER'S COMMENTS
By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA (AA) – The Turkish government's budget balance saw a deficit of 20.4 billion Turkish liras ($5.34 billion) in the first quarter of 2018, the Finance Ministry announced on Monday.
According to an official statement, Turkey's budget revenues this January to March totaled 167.4 billion Turkish liras ($43.8 billion), up 15.7 percent compared to the same period of last year.
Over the same period, budget expenses stood at 187.9 billion Turkish liras ($49.2 billion), climbing 17.7 percent annually.
Excluding interest payments, the central government budget balance saw a surplus of nearly $500 million in the first quarter of this year.
The average U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate in the first quarter was around 3.82, according to Turkey's Central Bank.
Interest payments in the first quarter rose 18.3 percent on a yearly basis to reach 22.3 billion Turkish liras ($5.8 billion), while tax revenues reached 145.8 billion Turkish liras ($38.2 billion) — a 19.9 percent annual rise.
Finance Minister Naci Agbal said in the statement that tax revenues for this year will exceed the targeted figures in the country's Medium-Term Program (MTP).
“The expenditures in the first quarter of the year were realized within the limits of budget allocations, ” he said.
“In the coming months, we will continue to decisively implement fiscal discipline to achieve the year-end budget targets in the MTP, ” he added.
In 2017, Turkey's budget deficit/GDP ratio was around 1.5 percent — below the MTP target. In the country's MTP, the budget deficit/GDP ratio target is 1.9 percent this year, 1.8 percent next year, and 1.6 percent in 2020.
