Turkey’s central budget showed a deficit of TL 123.7 billion ($21 billion) in 2019, TL 30.8 billion of which was recorded in December, the Diken news website reported on Wednesday, citing the Ministry of Finance.
The number surpassed the 2019 prediction of TL 80.6 billion made by Treasury Minister Berat Albayrak.
The 2019 deficit also represented a widening of 70 percent compared to that of the previous year, which stood at TL 72.8 billion. In the first half of the year the government decided to tap TL 46 billion in central bank legal reserves to shore up the deteriorating budget.