Turkish budget records 64 bln lira deficit in July

ANKARA: The Turkish government's central budget recorded a deficit of 64 billion lira ($3.56 billion) in July, data from the Finance Ministry showed on Monday, while the primary deficit stood at 47.3 billion lira.

Budget payments for a scheme that makes up for lira depositors' losses against hard currencies (KKM), introduced in December to stem the lira's decline, stood at 23.4 billion lira in July.

In the first seven months of the year, the budget recorded a 29.5 billion lira surplus, for a primary surplus of 180.9 billion lira. KKM payments stood at 60.6 billion lira in that period.