Turkey: Treasury reports nearly $850M surplus in August

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's Treasury had a cash balance surplus of 2.97 billion Turkish liras ($847 million) in August, according to an official statement announced on Monday.

Last month, the Treasury’s cash revenue reached nearly 63.79 billion Turkish liras (some $18.17 billion), while its non-interest expenditures amounted to around 55.92 billion Turkish liras (around $15.92 billion).

Interest payments in August stood at around 5.65 billion Turkish liras ($1.61 billion) with a privatization and fund income of 751 million Turkish liras ($214 million).

The cash balance -- $847 million surplus last month -- represents revenues plus privatization and fund income minus expenditures including interest payments.

Meanwhile, the Treasury's cash balance for the first eight months of the year showed a deficit of 30.54 billion Turkish liras (some $8.46 billion).

During the January-August period, cash revenue stood at 405.75 billion Turkish liras ($112.17 billion) while non-interest expenditures amounted to 409.11 billion Turkish liras ($113.1 billion).

The Treasury made 37.3 billion Turkish liras ­ ($10.3 billion) in interest payments over the same period, and it also collected 10.1 billion Turkish liras (around $2.8 billion) in privatization and fund income.