Turkey runs $3.7B budget deficit Jan to Oct
Ankara ran a budget deficit of TL 104 million ($32 million) in October and TL 12.1 billion in January to October, the state Finance Ministry announced yesterday. "Turkish government revenues last month stood at TL 43.4 billion, an 11 percent fall year-on-year, while budget expenditures were TL 43.5 billion, up 18.9 percent from a year earlier," it said in a statement.According to the ministry, budget revenues reached TL 447.9 billion in the first 10 months of the year, a 12.5 percent rise over the same period last year. Tax revenues also rose nearly 9.5 percent during the period, to TL 365.3 billion. Budget expenditures in the January to October period rose to TL 460 billion, making a 13.8 percent increase year-on-year.The government expenditures for health, pensions, and welfare rose nearly 38 percent in the first 10 months of the year to TL 89 billion over the same period last year. Personnel expenditure rose 19.1 percent, reaching almost TL 126 billion in January to August 2016. Interest expenditure stood at TL 44.6 billion in that period, a fall of 5.9 percent. The government is aiming for a budget deficit of TL 29.7 billion at the end of the year, according to the Finance Ministry.