The central government budget posted a deficit of 338.7 billion Turkish Liras ($7.4 billion) in April, widening sharply from a 175 billion lira deficit recorded in the same month last year, the Treasury and Finance Ministry said on May 15.
The deficit was 230 billion liras in March.
Budget expenditures increased by 34.7 percent year-on-year to 1.52 trillion liras, driven by a 45.4 percent surge in non-interest spending, which reached 1.3 trillion liras. In contrast, interest expenditures edged down 1.3 percent annually to 257.6 billion liras.
On the revenue side, total budget revenues rose 23.9 percent year-on-year to 1.19 trillion liras, supported by a 28.5 percent increase in tax revenues, which climbed to 1.01 trillion liras.
As a result, the budget recorded a primary deficit of 81.1 billion liras in April, compared with a primary surplus of 86 billion liras a year earlier.
For the January–April 2026 period, the central government budget deficit narrowed 14.3 percent year-on-year to 759 billion liras.
During this period, the budget posted a primary surplus of 375 billion liras, a marked improvement from a primary deficit of 161 billion liras in the same period last year.
Budget revenues rose 54.3 percent to 5.2 trillion liras in the first four months of the year, while total expenditures increased 40 percent to 5.95 trillion liras. Interest expenditures posted a sharp 56.5 percent year-on-year increase, reaching 1.13 trillion liras.
