Mucahithan Avcioglu
15 June 2026•Update: 15 June 2026
Türkiye’s central government budget posted a deficit of 298.2 billion Turkish liras ($6.44 billion) in May, official data showed on Monday.
Budget revenues fell 18% year-on-year to 1.086 trillion liras ($23.4 billion), while expenditures rose 27% to 1.384 trillion liras ($29.9 billion), according to the Treasury and Finance Ministry.
The primary balance, which excludes interest payments, posted a deficit of 169.3 billion liras ($3.6 billion) in May, compared with a surplus of 346.4 billion liras ($7.5 billion) in the same month last year.
Interest expenditures increased 16% from a year earlier to 128.9 billion liras ($2.7 billion), while non-interest expenditures rose 28.3% to 1.255 trillion liras ($27.1 billion).
Tax revenues declined 22.1% in May from a year earlier to 931.5 billion liras ($20.1 billion).
In the January-May period, the central government budget deficit stood at 1.057 trillion liras ($22.8 billion).
Budget revenues rose 33.9% year-on-year to 6.278 trillion liras ($135.6 billion) in the first five months of the year, while expenditures increased 37.4% to 7.335 trillion liras ($158.5 billion).
Tax revenues rose 32.4% year-on-year to 5.304 trillion liras ($114.6 billion) during the period.
Interest expenditures jumped 51.1% to 1.263 trillion liras ($27.3 billion), while non-interest expenditures increased 34.8% to 6.072 trillion liras ($131.2 billion).
