Record budget deficit in September: Interest payments exhaust the appropriation
Prof. Dr. Binhan Elif Yılmaz reported that September saw a record budget deficit of 532 billion liras, bringing the 9-month total deficit to 1.84 trillion liras.
Prof. Dr. Binhan Elif Yılmaz stated that September reached the highest monthly budget deficit of the year with 532 billion liras, bringing the 9-month total deficit to 1.84 trillion liras and interest payments close to 2.25 trillion liras.
Expressing that the 2.7 trillion lira appropriation allocated in the budget for debt interest expenses was exhausted before the year was completed, Prof. Dr. Yılmaz predicted that debt interest expenditures would reach the level of 2.9 to 3 trillion liras by the end of the year.
Emphasizing that this amount corresponds to approximately 17% of budget expenditures and more than 20% of tax revenues, Prof. Dr. Yılmaz stated that debt interests, personnel expenditures (30%), and current transfers (38-40%) leave no flexibility in the budget and increase rigidity.
Touching upon the deterioration in the tax structure, Prof. Dr. Yılmaz noted that the share of indirect taxes within total tax revenues still hovers above 60%.