Türkiye's central government budget registered a deficit of TL 710.8 billion ($18.66 billion) in the first three months of the year, according to official data released on Tuesday.
Budget revenues reached TL 2.41 trillion, while expenditures amounted to TL 3.12 trillion, a report from the Treasury and Finance Ministry showed.
The balance registered a primary deficit, which excludes interest payments, of TL 246.9 billion.
In March, the gap narrowed to TL 261.4 billion, compared to a TL 301.1 billion shortfall in February.
Still, the deficit rose by 25.1% compared to the same month of the previous year.
Budget revenues totaled TL 766.26 billion in March, while expenditures amounted to TL 1.02 trillion.
The primary deficit for March stood at TL 100.2 billion. Non-interest expenditures reached TL 866.48 billion, with interest payments totaling TL 161.24 billion.
The report showed that tax revenues came in at TL 645.1 billion in March.
The budget deficit surged to a record TL 2.11 trillion in 2024, driven by high inflation and increases in spending due to election-related expenditures and the aftermath of the devastating February 2023 earthquakes.
The government projects a reduction in the deficit to around 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) for 2025 from about 4.9% in 2024, citing anticipated decreases in quake-related spending.
Türkiye maintained a budget gap to GDP ratio of around 1% from 2013 to 2016, supported by low public debt. However, the shortfall steadily expanded, reaching 3.5% of GDP in 2020 and ending 2021 at 2.8%. It came in below 1% in 2022, compared to the 3.5% target.
In 2023, escalating quake-related expenditures pushed the deficit to approximately 5.4% of GDP.
