Turkey runs $3B-plus budget surplus in November

ANKARA (AA) – The Turkish government ran a budget surplus of 10 billion Turkish liras ($3.03 billion) in November, and a budget deficit of 2.1 billion Turkish liras ($705 million) in January-November, the country’s finance minister said Thursday.

Finance Minister Naci Agbal said the budget continued to show a solid performance with a surplus reflecting revenues came from the tax debt restructuring in November.

“The government’s revenues rose 38.6 percent to 60.7 billion Turkish liras ($18.4 billion), and tax revenues increased 37.2 percent to 54.1 billion Turkish liras ($16.4 billion) last month, compared to November 2015,” said Agbal.

Last month, nearly 4.8 million people applied to use a tax debt restructuring package for a total of some 90 billion liras (around $27 billion), according to the Finance Ministry.

The government’s tax revenues in January-November reached 419.1 billion Turkish liras (around $140.6 billion), a 12.4 percent rise over the same period last year.

Budget expenditures in January-November rose to 510.7 billion Turkish liras ($171.4 billion), marking a 14.2 percent increase year-on-year.

According to the ministry, budget revenues stood at 508.6 billion Turkish liras ($170.7 billion) in the first 11 months of the year, a 15.1 percent rise over the same period last year, pointing to a $705 million budget deficit.

Agbal also stated that the government's expenditures for health, pensions, and welfare rose 32.7 percent in the first 11 months of the year to some 99 billion liras (around $33.2 billion) over the same period last year.

Personnel expenditures climbed 18.8 percent, reaching nearly 138.5 billion Turkish liras (approx. $46.5 billion) in January-November this year.

Agbal added that interest expenditures stood at 48 billion liras ($16.1 billion) in that period, a fall of 5.6 percent.