Turkish budget report shows large hole in finances
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s Treasury said yesterday its cash budget produced a deficit of 9,400 trillion lira (some $7 billion) in the first quarter of the year, largely financed by net foreign borrowing. It said the cash primary surplus, which excludes interest payments on debt, was 1,400 trillion lira. The treasury posted a cash deficit of 2,900 trillion lira and a cash budget surplus of 535 trillion lira for March alone. It said the cash deficit in March was mostly met through domestic borrowing. The treasury’s cash budget data emerges ahead of the full consolidated budget data from the Finance Ministry. The cash budget measures actual cash inflows and outflows from treasury accounts but does not include non-cash transfers that appear on the full consolidated budget, which emerges later. As an example, the consolidated budget might include VAT revenues that are due in a given month, even if not all of them have yet been settled as cash payments. The IMF uses consolidated budget data for its targets. Turkey’s cash budget produced a deficit of 18,421 trillion lira in the entire year of 2001 and the cash primary surplus totaled 12,496 trillion lira for the year. The Turkish lira has lost some 50 percent of its value since crisis ripped through the economy in February 2001. Consumer price inflation currently runs at some 70 percent yearly. Market is trying to return to the pre-Easter holiday atmosphere, while a number of fixtures have appeared.
