UPDATE - Turkey's budget posts nearly $6B deficit in Jan.-April

UPDATES WITH MORE FIGURES AND MINISTER'S COMMENTS

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's central government budget balance saw a deficit of 23.2 billion Turkish liras ($5.98 billion) in the January-April period, the Finance Ministry announced Tuesday.

According to an official statement, Turkey's budget revenues stood at 232 billion Turkish liras ($59.8 billion) from January to April, going up by 17.3 percent on a yearly basis.

In the same period, the budget expenses amounted to 255.2 billion Turkish liras ($65.8 billion), marking an 18.3 percent annual rise.

Excluding interest payments, the central government budget balance saw a surplus of 2.2 billion Turkish liras ($569.5 million) over the same period.

The average U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate in the first four months this year was around 3.88, according to the Central Bank.

In the 4-month period, interest payments recorded a 15.12 percent yearly hike to reach 25.4 billion Turkish liras ($6.5 billion), while tax revenues amounted to 190.8 billion Turkish liras ($49.2 billion), marking a 20.3 percent annual rise.

"Positive developments in the January-April period indicate that the year-end tax revenues will exceed our targets," Finance Minister Naci Agbal said in the statement.

"The budget performance in the first four months is still showing a positive trend, compared with our 2018 targets," Agbal added.

"The necessary steps will be taken to achieve the year-end budget targets."

In 2017, Turkey's budget deficit/GDP ratio was around 1.5 percent -- below the targets noted in the country's Medium-Term Program (MTP).

According to the MTP, the budget deficit/GDP ratio target is 1.9 percent this year, 1.8 percent next year, and 1.6 percent in 2020.