Budget deficit target achieved

Turkey’s budget def c t stood at TRY 72.6 b ll on ($14.8 b ll on) n 2018, meet ng a year-end target under the country’s new econom c program, the treasury and f nance m n ster sa d on January 22. “We reached the target of a 1.9 percent budget-def c t-togross-domest c-product rat o under the new econom c program,” Berat Albayrak wrote on Tw tter. The country’s budget revenues rose 20.2 percent to reach TRY 757.8 b ll on ($154.6 b ll on) n January-December 2018 wh le tax ncomes cl mbed 15.8 percent to TRY 621.3 b ll on ($126.8 b ll on), Albayrak noted. He sa d budget expend tures rose to TRY 830.5 b ll on ($170 b ll on), up 22.4 percent dur ng the same per od. The budget balance, exclud ng nterest payments, posted a surplus of TRY 1.35 b ll on (some $274.7 m ll on), accord ng to Treasury and F nance M n stry data. Data showed that nterest payments were nearly TRY 74 b ll on ($15.1 b ll on) over the same per od.