Turkish Treasury runs $26.8B cash deficit in 2023

By Tuba Ongun

The Turkish Treasury's cash balance saw a deficit of 625.5 billion Turkish liras ($26.8 billion) in 2023, according to official figures released on Monday.

The figure was 168.4 billion liras ($10.2 billion) in 2022, the Treasury and Finance Ministry data showed.

Cash revenues of the Treasury totaled 5.3 trillion liras ($228.4 billion), while its expenditures reached nearly 6 trillion liras ($255.6 billion).

Its interest payments were 564.9 billion liras ($24.2 billion) last year.

Excluding interest payments, the cash balance posted a deficit of 71 billion liras ($3.1 million) in 2023.

The Treasury last year received 10.5 billion Turkish liras ($189 million) in privatization or fund income – including transfers by the Turkish Privatization Administration, 4.5G license payments, and land sale revenues.

The Turkish lira traded for 23.311 per US dollar on average in 2023, while the dollar/lira exchange rate stood at 29.1012 on average in December.

In December, the Treasury's cash deficit came in at 197 billion liras ($6.8 billion), with its revenues standing at 546.7 billion liras ($18.8 billion) and expenditures reaching 749.2 billion liras ($25.7 billion).