Turkey's central government budget balance saw a surplus of 2.7 billion Turkish liras ($612.5 million) in May, the Finance Ministry announced Monday.

Last month Turkey's budget revenues amounted to TL 70 billion ($15.8 billion), up nearly 22 percent on a yearly basis, according to official data.

Budget expenditures in May were TL 67.3 billion ($15.2 billion), an annual hike of around 32 percent.

Excluding interest payments, the central government budget balance saw a surplus of TL 8.7 billion ($1.97 billion) last month.

Official figures also said the budget saw a deficit of TL 20.4 billion ($5.1 billion) in the January-May period.

In the five-month period, Turkey's budget revenues reached some TL 302 billion ($76 billion), an 18.3 percent annual rise.

This January to May, budget expenditures rose nearly 21 percent compared to same period last year, totaling TL 322.5 billion ($81 billion).

Interest payments were TL 31.4 billion ($7.9 billion), while tax revenues amounted to TL 252 billion ($63.3 billion) over the same period.

The budget balance excluding interest payments saw a surplus of some TL 11 billion ($2.75 billion) in the January-May period.

The average U.S. dollar/TL exchange rate in May was 4.42, while one dollar was trading for 3.98 liras on average in the first five months this year, according to the Turkish Central Bank.

In 2017, Turkey's budget deficit/GDP ratio was around 1.5 percent — below the targets noted in the country's Medium-Term Program (MTP).

According to the MTP, the budget deficit/GDP ratio target is 1.9 percent this year, 1.8 percent next year, and 1.6 percent in 2020.