ANKARA: Turkey’s central government budget ran a TL 3.8 billion ($1.54 billion) surplus in January 2015, the Ministry of Finance reported.
The statement came after the U.S. dollar started the week around 2.46 against the Turkish lira yesterday, following its record level of 2.50 last week. Following the truce agreement in Ukraine on Feb. 15 and expectations of the postponement of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s (Fed) interest rate increase, the U.S. dollar retreated as low as 2.452 during the day.
Recently, economic activity has been adversely affected due to recent fluctuations in the financial market. However, the reflection of this on the January budget revenues has been limited,” Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said in a statement yesterday. “The number is compatible with the estimated TL 21 billion budget deficit for 2015,” Şimşek added.
In January 2014, Turkey ran a budget deficit of TL 1.9 billion. Turkey’s government budget revenues reached TL 40.1 billion in January 2015, a 5.8 percent increase compared to the same period in 2014. Budget expenditures for the same period rose to TL 36.3 billion, a 1 percent increase year-on-year.
The Ministry of Finance has estimated that budget expenses for the 2015 fiscal year will reach TL 473 billion, while the budget income will reach TL 451 billion, resulting in a budget deficit of TL 21 billion.
The Turkish central government’s budget ran a deficit of TL 22.7 billion in 2014, the ministry had announced at the beginning of 2015. This was TL 10.6 billion less than the initial government forecast of TL 33.3 billion, Şimşek said.
Economist Hikmet Baydar said that fluctuations and uncertainty in currency rates particularly affects import and export activities. “As daily graphics show that a relaxation may endure in the dollar until the end of February, it would be beneficial not to hurry on purchasing according to technical data,” Baydar said addressing importers in particular. Baydar also advised futures and options transactions for exporters to avoid losses due to fluctuating currency, as the 2.40 level may be tested again.
