Turkey's budget posts $16.6B deficit in 11 months

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's central government budget balance saw a deficit of 92.94 billion Turkish liras ($16.6 billion) in the first 11 months of 2019, the Treasury and Finance Ministry announced on Monday.

Turkey's budget revenues rose 16.1% to hit 802.48 billion Turkish liras ($143.3 billion) year-on-year in January-November 2019, according to official data.

The country's budget expenditures reached 895.4 billion Turkish liras ($159.9 billion) in the 11-month period, up 20.1% from the same period in 2018.

Excluding interest payments, the budget balance posted a deficit of 12.4 billion Turkish liras ($2.2 billion) in the period, while interest expenditures totaled around 95.77 billion Turkish liras ($17.1 billion).

Government tax revenues reached 613.24 billion Turkish liras ($109.3 billion) in January-November, showing a rise of 6.5% on a yearly basis.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate averaged 5.6 during the first 11 months of 2019.

Last year, Turkey's central government budget balance showed a deficit of 72.6 billion Turkish liras ($14.8 billion), meeting a year-end target of a 1.9% budget-deficit-to-gross-domestic-product ratio.

The country's economic program, announced in September, aims to keep the budget-deficit-to-GDP ratio at 2.9% in 2019, 2020, and 2021.