The Turkish government registered a budget deficit of 109.5 billion Turkish lira (some $16 billion) between January and June, the country’s Treasury and Finance Ministry reported Thursday, according to the Hürriyet Daily News.
Turkey’s budget revenue reached 455.4 billion Turkish lira ($66.4 billion) in the first half of the year, up 13 percent year-on-year.
Budget expenditures rose 17.3 percent on an annual basis to hit 564.9 billion Turkish lira ($82.3 billion) from January to June.
The budget balance, excluding interest payments, posted a deficit of 38.2 billion Turkish lira ($5.6 billion) in the first six months of 2020.
Official figures showed that revenue from taxes surged 9.2 percent to 336 billion Turkish lira ($46 billion), while interest payments were 71.2 billion Turkish lira ($10.4 billion) over the same period.
In June, the budget balance also saw a deficit of 19.4 billion Turkish lira ($2.9 billion).