The central government budget of Türkiye posted a deficit of TL 47.22 billion ($2.46 billion) in March, the Treasury and Finance Ministry said Monday.

This pushed the cumulative deficit for 2023 so far to TL 250 billion, mainly due to devastating earthquakes, the data showed.

The primary balance, which excludes interest payments, logged a deficit of TL 2.15 billion in March, data revealed, bringing the total in the first three months to TL 149.37 billion.

The budget deficit widened sharply after the earthquakes struck southern Türkiye in February, killing over 50,000 people, toppling hundreds of thousands of buildings, and ripping the region’s infrastructure.

In February, the central government's budget deficit stood at TL 170.56 billion, and the cumulative figure for the first two months of the year was TL 202.8 billion.

Budget revenues rose nearly 84% from a year ago to TL 286.8 billion in March, while expenditures jumped 48.5% to TL 334 billion, the data showed.

Non-interest expenditures were at TL 289 billion, while interest payments reached TL 45.1 billion. Excluding interest payments, the budget balance saw a TL 2.1 billion deficit, while tax revenues reached TL 198.6 billion.

The government implemented bumper measures to minimize the earthquake's impact on the economy, such as delaying debt payments and offering wages and support money to quake victims, which have also widened the budget deficit.

Economists reckon government spending on rebuilding and aid efforts could lift the ratio of budget deficit to gross domestic product (GDP) to above 5% this year, up from Ankara's forecast last September of 3.5%. It stood at around 1% in 2022, despite widening in recent years.

The Treasury made a capital transfer of TL 3 billion for the transformation of disaster-prone areas in March after the earthquakes devastated parts of 11 provinces in southern Türkiye. It had transferred TL 5.6 billion to the areas a month earlier.

The Treasury handed out some TL 15.7 billion to families and businesses in March, budget data showed, compared to more than TL 25 billion in February.

The economic cost of the earthquakes is estimated to be around $104 billion and is expected to shave one to two percentage points off economic growth this year.

The data showed that no payments were made to the state pipeline operator BOTAŞ in March and a government scheme that protects lira deposits against forex depreciation.

It transferred some TL 32 billion to BOTAŞ in the year's first two months.