ADVERTISEMENT

Turkey Budget Swings to Deficit After Central Bank Cash Transfer

Turkey Budget Swings to Deficit After Central Bank Cash Transfer

(Bloomberg) -- Turkey swung to a budget deficit last month after running a surplus following the central bank’s injection of cash in January.

The central government ran a monthly fiscal deficit of 7.4 billion liras ($1.2 billion), compared with a gap of 16.8 billion liras a year earlier. It ended last year with an annual deficit of 123.7 billion liras.

Key Insights

  • Spending excluding interest payments rose an annual 15% to 79.3 billion liras
  • Tax income increased 25% due to a massive increase in corporate taxes and reached 71.7 billion liras in February, compared with 57.5 billion liras a year earlier
  • Revenue rose 28.6% from a year earlier, indicating a significant increase in real terms when adjusted for consumer inflation of 12.7%

Get More

  • Turkey’s Treasury posted a cash budget deficit of 9 billion liras in February and a primary surplus of about 4 billion liras
  • The Treasury in January received an advance payment on its share of the monetary authority’s annual profits. Historically, the payment had been made after the central bank’s annual board gathering in April, but it held extraordinary meetings in January to send the cash earlier last year and this.

To contact the reporter on this story: Cagan Koc in Istanbul at ckoc2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Onur Ant at oant@bloomberg.net, Paul Abelsky, Mark Williams

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.