Turkey runs $4.85B budget deficit in Q1

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's central government budget balance posted 29.6 billion Turkish liras (some $4.85 billion) deficit in the January-March period, the Treasury and Finance Ministry announced on Wednesday.

The country's budget revenues totaled 255.75 billion Turkish liras (some $41.9 billion) in the first three months of this year, rising 17% from the same period last year.

Budget expenditures rose 12.1% to hit 285.3 billion Turkish liras (some $46.77 billion) -- marking a $4.85 billion deficit.

The budget balance, excluding interest payments, saw a surplus of 8.67 billion Turkish liras ($1.42 billion) in the first quarter.

Official figures showed that tax revenues surged 14.1% to 176.1 billion Turkish liras (around $28.86 billion), while interest payments were 38.25 billion Turkish liras ($6.27 billion) over the same period.