Turkey: Treasury cash balance at $2.7B deficit in March

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish Treasury's cash balance posted a deficit of 14.95 billion Turkish liras (some $2.7 billion) last month, according to Treasury and Finance Ministry data released Wednesday.

The Treasury's cash revenues were 68.570 billion Turkish liras ($12.6 billion) in March, up 11.5% from the same month last year, according to data.

Treasury expenditures -- including interest payments of 11.2 billion Turkish liras ($2 billion) -- totaled 83.5 billion Turkish liras ($15.3 billion).

The Treasury's non-interest expenditures reached 72.2 billion Turkish liras ($13.2 billion), posting a deficit of 3.7 billion Turkish liras ($682.6 million) in the primary balance.

The cash balance represents the Treasury's cash revenues minus expenditures, including interest payments.

The average U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate in March was around 5.46.