Türkiye runs budget deficit of $16.6B in Q1

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Türkiye's budget balance posted a deficit of 513.5 billion liras ($16.6 billion) during the first quarter of this year, doubling from the same period last year, official figures showed on Monday.

In the January-March period, the country's revenues totaled 1.64 trillion liras ($53 billion), up around 130% year-on-year, the Treasury and Finance Ministry revealed.

Türkiye's expenditures amounted to $2.15 trillion liras ($69.6 billion), increasing by 106% over the same period.

The country's interest payments totaled 250.4 billion liras (8.1 billion), and non-interest budget balance saw a deficit of 263 billion liras.

During March, the country's revenues and expenditures totaled 483.8 billion liras ($15.1 billion) and 692. 8 billion liras ($21.65 billion), respectively.

The budget balance posted a deficit of 208.96 billion liras ($6.55 billion) in March.

The US dollar Turkish lira exchange rate was at 30.92 on average during the January-March period, and 31.99 in March alone.