Turkey: Gov't budget balance posts $14B gap in Jan-May

The Turkish central government registered a budget deficit of 90.1 billion Turkish liras (some $14 billion) in January-May, the country's Treasury and Finance Ministry reported Monday.

Turkey's budget revenue reached 389.1 billion Turkish liras ($60.8 billion) in the first five months of the year, up 12% year-on-year.

Budget expenditures rose 15.7% on an annual basis to hit 479.2 billion Turkish liras (74.9 billion) from January to May -- marking a 90.1 billion Turkish lira (some $60.8 billion) gap.

The budget balance, excluding interest payments, posted a deficit of 25.1 billion Turkish liras ($4 billion) in the first five months of 2020.

Official figures showed that revenue from taxes surged 6.7% to 280.5 billion Turkish liras ($43.9 billion), while interest payments were 65 billion Turkish liras ($10.1 billion) over the same period.

- Monthly figures

In May, the budget balance also saw a deficit of 17.3 billion Turkish liras ($2.5 billion).

Turkey's budget revenues totaled 68.1 billion Turkish liras ($9.9 billion) last month, down 4.8% on a yearly basis.

Budget expenditures in May were 55.2 billion Turkish liras ($8 billion), a rise of 2.2% annually.

Excluding interest payments, the central government budget balance saw a gap of 7.6 billion Turkish liras ($1 billion) last month.

The average US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate in May was $6.94, while one dollar traded for 6.41 liras on average in the first five months of 2020.