Central government budget deficit widens last month

The central government budget posted a deficit of 129.6 billion Turkish Liras in August, rising from a deficit of 96.8 billion liras in the previous month, the Finance Ministry has said.

In August 2023, the budget ran a surplus of 51.3 billion liras.

Last month, expenditures rose 45.8 percent annually to 820 billion liras with interest expenditures increasing 11.4 percent to 97.05 billion liras.

Non-interest expenditures amounted to 723 billion liras, marking a more than 52 percent year-on-year increase.

Revenues were up 12.5 percent compared with August 2023 to 691 billion liras.

Tax collection increased by 6.2 percent last month from a year ago to 577 billion liras.

Value-added tax and special consumption tax revenues rose by 72 percent and 23 percent to 87 billion liras and 128 billion liras, respectively.

Consequently, the budget produced a primary deficit of 326 billion liras in August. That compared with a 4.2 billion liras deficit in the previous month and a surplus of 138 billion liras in August last year.

In the first eight months of 2024, the central government budget ran an overall deficit of 974 billion liras, rising 154 percent year-on-year.

Expenditures were up 84 percent annually to 6.2 trillion liras, while revenues grew 75 percent to 5.25 trillion liras.

The budget produced a primary deficit of 209.6 billion liras in January-August against a primary surplus of 16.7 billion liras in the same period of 2023.