Turkish government runs $1.2B-plus budget surplus

By Dilara Zengin

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish government ran a budget surplus of 4.6 billion Turkish liras (approximately $1.24 billion) in the first two months, the finance minister announced Wednesday.

"The budget continues to comply with our targets," Finance Minister Naci Agbal said in a statement.

The minister said budget revenues reached 105.7 billion liras (around $28.5 billion) in the first two months -- a 15.6 percent increase compared with the same period last year.

In this period, the government's tax revenues totaled 88.4 billion liras (some $23.9 billion) and tax-excluded incomes stood at 17.3 billion liras (approximately $4.6 billion), Agbal added.

He said budget expenditures totaled 101.1 billion liras (some $27.3 billion) in January-February, a 19.2 percent rise over the same period last year.

Official data showed government's revenues in February stood at 46.9 billion liras (nearly $12.8 billion), a 4.9 percent increase year-on-year.

In February, 6.8 billion liras (around $1.8 billion) budget deficit came after 53.7 billion liras (around $14.6 billion) of expenditures, which increased by 27 percent compare with the same month last year.

"Taking into account the year's budget targets, we will continue to implement our budget policy within a fiscal policy framework which supports growth and prioritizes monetary policy compliance," the minister added.

The government is aiming for a budget deficit of 46.9 billion Turkish liras (nearly $12.5 billion) at the end of the year, according to Finance Ministry.

The ministry had estimated budget expenses for the 2017 fiscal year at 645.1 billion liras ($172 billion), up by almost 14 percent compared with 570 billion liras ($153 billion) in the forecast for 2016.