Turkey's budget sees $12.3B deficit in Jan.-Sept.

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's central government budget balance posted a deficit of 56.7 billion Turkish liras ($12.35 billion) from January to September, the Treasury and Finance Ministry announced on Monday.

The country's budget revenues totaled 546.8 billion Turkish liras ($119 billion) in the first nine months of this year, up nearly 20 percent year-on-year, data showed.

During the same period, budget expenditures rose 23.6 percent to 603.5 billion Turkish liras ($131.5 billion) -- marking a 56.7 billion Turkish lira ($12.35 billion) deficit.

The budget balance, excluding interest payments, saw a surplus of 3.7 billion Turkish liras ($800 million) from January to September.

Official figures showed that tax revenues rose 19.2 percent to reach nearly 459.4 billion Turkish liras (around $100 billion), while interest payments were 60.4 billion Turkish liras ($13.2 billion) over the same period.

- Monthly figures

In September, the budget balance also saw a deficit of 5.96 billion Turkish liras ($934 million).

Last month Turkey's budget revenues totaled 61.08 billion Turkish liras ($9.6 billion), up nearly 27.5 percent on a yearly basis, according to official data.

Budget expenditures in September were 67 billion Turkish liras ($10.5 billion), a rise of 23.3 percent annually.

Excluding interest payments, the central government budget balance saw a surplus of 4.25 billion Turkish liras ($666 million) last month.

The average U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate in September was 6.38, while one dollar was trading for 4.59 liras on average in the first nine months of this year.