Turkish gov't budget surplus soars in April to 5.4B TL

Turkey’s government ran a 5.4 billion Turkish lira ($1.83 billion) budget surplus in April, the country’s Finance Minister Naci Agbal said on Monday.

The surplus was sharply higher in April as the budget surplus was 4 billion liras more compared to same month of last year, when it was only 1.4 billion liras ($470 million).

The primary surplus, which excludes interest payments, was 8 billion liras ($2.71 billion), up 500 million liras ($170 million) compared to 7.5 billion liras ($2.64) in same period of last year.

“The results obtained in the four months of the year shows our government continues to uphold fiscal discipline unwaveringly,” Agbal said.

“We will continue to uphold the principles of fiscal discipline for the rest of the year,” he added.

According to official data from the ministry, the Turkish government budget, which ran a deficit of 4.1 billion liras ($1.39 billion) in the first four months of last year, this April saw a budget surplus of 5.4 billion liras ($1.83 billion).