Turkish Treasury posts $1.46B cash deficit in October

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish Treasury's cash balance recorded a deficit of $1.46 billion Turkish liras ($248 million) in October, the Ministry of Treasury and Finance announced on Wednesday.

Last month, the Treasury's cash revenues totaled 67.23 billion Turkish liras ($11.45 billion), up 26.7 percent year-on-year, while expenditures -- including interest payments of 4.1 billion Turkish liras ($698 million) -- rose 19.1 percent to 68.7 billion Turkish liras ($11.7 billion).

In October, the Treasury's non-interest expenditures amounted to 64.6 billion Turkish liras ($11 billion) -- a 2.6-billion-lira ($442 million) surplus in the primary balance.

The cash balance of $1.46 billion represents the Treasury's cash revenues plus privatization and fund income minus expenditures, including interest payments, in October.

The average U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 5.87 last month.