The Turkish government posted a budget deficit of TL 140.6 billion ($20.9 billion) in January-September, the Treasury and Finance Ministry said Thursday.

Budget revenues of the country rose by 11.6% year-on-year, reaching TL 729.4 billion in the first nine months of 2020.

Spurred by the coronavirus pandemic, the country's budget expenditures hit TL 870 billion from January to September, up 17.6% on an annual basis.

The budget balance, excluding interest payments, posted a deficit of TL 32.8 billion.

Tax revenues amounted to TL 578.7 billion, while interest payments were TL 107.8 billion in the same period.

In September, the budget balance registered a deficit of TL 29.7 billion.

Turkey's budget revenues totaled TL 78.9 billion last month, up 25.1% from September 2019.

Budget expenditures in the month totaled TL 108.6 billion, up 34.4% compared to the same month last year.

Excluding interest payments, the central government budget balance saw a gap of TL 13.5 billion last month.

The average U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate in September was 7.52 while $1 traded around TL 6.73 on average in January-September 2020.