By Daily Sabah News
Turkey’s central government budget balance posted a surplus of nearly TL 5.1 billion in January, the Treasury and Finance Ministry announced Friday.
According to its monthly report, Turkey’s budget revenues jumped 66.6 percent year-on-year to hit TL 97 billion in the first month of 2019.
The budget expenditures stood at nearly TL 92 billion last month, marking a 62.5 percent annual rise.
Excluding interest payments, the budget balance saw a surplus of TL 12.4 billion in January, while interest expenditures were around TL 7.3 billion.
The government’s tax incomes reached TL 55.7 billion last month, indicating a 7.1 percent rise on a yearly basis.
In a post on his Twitter account, Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said each development shows the tight stance in budget discipline. “January was a month when we increased budget surplus, budget revenues and primary surplus significantly,” Albayrak wrote.
Last year, Turkey’s central government budget balance showed a deficit of TL 72.6 billion, meeting a year-end target under the country’s new economic program.
The government achieved the target of a 1.9 percent budget deficit to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio in 2018 under the new economic program announced last September
