Turkey's budget deficit narrows to $6.8B in March as lira fluctuates
The data was released as Turkey has been facing economic turmoil and currency volatility.
Turkey’s budget deficit narrowed to 261.5 billion liras ($6.78 billion) in March, a 13% drop from the 301.1 billion liras ($8.4 billion) reported in February, official data showed Tuesday.
Despite the month-on-month improvement, the deficit was still 25.1% higher than in March 2024, according to a report by Turkey’s Treasury and Finance Ministry.
Budget revenues totaled 766.26 billion liras ($20.6 billion), while expenditures hit 1.02 trillion liras ($27.6 billion).
The data comes as Turkey continues to grapple with economic instability and sharp currency fluctuations. On Monday, a Turkish court rejected an appeal to release Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who was detained without questioning on March 19 and subsequently arrested. The detention of Imamoglu — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival — was widely seen as politically motivated, sparking widespread protests, thousands of arrests and market unease.
