Turkey records a budget deficit of $2.9 billion in July

Turkey’s central government budget recorded a deficit of 96.8 billion lira ($2.9 billion) in July, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported, citing official data released on Thursday.

Budget revenue amounted to 730.9 billion lira ($22.2 billion) in July with a 44.9 percent increase over June, while expenditures reached 827.7 billion lira ($25.1 billion), a 81.6 percent increase, according to figures released by the Treasury and Finance Ministry.

In June Turkey’s budget deficit was higher, standing at 275.3 billion lira ($8.5 billion), according to official data.

In July non-interest spending was 735.2 billion lira ($22.3 billion), with interest payments amounting to 92.5 billion lira ($2.8 billion). Excluding interest payments, the budget balance posted a deficit of 4.2 billion lira ($129 million), while tax revenue stood at 611.7 billion lira ($18.6 billion).

For the first seven months of the year, the budget balance showed a deficit of 844 billion lira ($26.5 billion). During this period, budget revenue reached 4.6 trillion lira ($143.4 billion), while expenditures amounted to 5.4 trillion lira ($170 billion).

The US dollar traded at an average of 32.90 lira in July and 31.81 lira on average during the January-July period.