Turkiye runs $5.1B budget balance surplus in February

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - The budget balance of the Turkish central government registered a surplus of nearly 70 billion Turkish liras ($5.1 billion) in February, according to data from the Treasury and Finance Ministry on Tuesday.

February's reading was three-fold compared to the same month of last year, the data showed.

Turkiye's budget revenues more than doubled, up 126% year-on-year to 270.6 billion liras ($20 billion) this February.

The budget expenditures reached 200.8 billion liras ($14.8 billion) in February, also jumping 108% from a year ago.

Excluding interest payments, the budget balance saw a surplus of 113.4 billion liras ($8.3 billion) last month.

Tax revenues reached 180.3 billion liras ($13.2 billion) and interest payments were 43.7 billion liras ($3.2 billion) in the same period.

The average US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate in February was around 13.62, while one dollar traded for 13.57 liras on average in the first two months of 2022.

- Cumulative figure

In the January-February period, the budget balance ran a surplus of nearly 100 billion Turkish liras ($7.4 billion), versus a deficit of 984 million liras ($135 million) in the same period of last year.

Budget revenues totaled 446.6 billion Turkish liras ($32.9 billion) in the first two months of 2022, while expenditures stood at 346.8 billion liras ($25.6 billion).

The budget balance, excluding interest payments, saw a surplus of 157.7 billion liras ($11.6 billion) in January-February.