Turkey runs over $3 bln budget surplus thanks to huge tax restructuring program

ANKARA

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The Turkish government ran a budget surplus of 10 billion Turkish Liras ($3.03 billion) in November, mainly thanks to a huge tax restructuring program, and a budget deficit of 2.1 billion liras ($705 million) in January-November, the country’s finance minister said Dec. 15, according to Anadolu Agency. 

Naci Ağbal said the budget continued to show a solid performance with a surplus reflecting revenues that came from the tax debt restructuring in November.        

“The government’s revenues rose 38.6 percent to 60.7 billion liras [$18.4 billion], and tax revenues increased 37.2 percent to 54.1 billion liras [$16.4 billion] last month, compared to November 2015,” said Ağbal, as quoted by Anadolu Agency.         

Last month, nearly 4.8 million people applied to use a tax debt restructuring package for a total of some 90 billion liras (around $27 billion), according to the Finance Ministry.     

All manners of taxes, tax assessments, customs duties, administrative fines, insurance premiums, social security premiums, unemployment portions and related interest and late payment charges related to the period before June 30 were encompassed by the law. 

The government’s tax revenues in January-November reached 419.1 billion liras (around $140.6 billion), a 12.4 percent rise over the same period last year.  
     
Budget expenditures in January-November rose to 510.7 billion liras ($171.4 billion), marking a 14.2 percent increase year-on-year.        

According to the ministry, budget revenues stood at 508.6 billion liras ($170.7 billion) in the first 11 months of the year, a 15.1 percent rise over the same period last year, pointing to a $705 million budget deficit.  
     
Ağbal also stated that the government’s expenditures for health, pensions and welfare rose 32.7 percent in the first 11 months of the year to 99 billion liras (around $33.2 billion) over the same period last year.  
      
Personnel expenditures climbed 18.8 percent, reaching nearly 138.5 billion liras (around $46.5 billion) in January-November this year.        

Ağbal added that interest expenditures stood at 48 billion liras ($16.1 billion) in that period, a fall of 5.6 percent.