Turkey: Budget Surplus Narrows in August.

Turkey’s central government budget posted a surplus of TRY 12.9 billion in August 2026, narrowing sharply from a surplus of TRY 96.7 billion in the same month a year earlier. Total expenditures surged 37.8% year-on-year to TRY 1.6 trillion, driven by higher spending on current transfers (+39.0%), personnel costs (+42.0%), social security contributions (+47.9%), purchases of goods and services (+32.6%), and capital expenditures (+17.3%). Non-interest expenditures increased 42.8% to TRY 1.4 trillion, while interest payments rose 9.7% to TRY 197.1 billion. Meanwhile, revenues jumped 28.5% year-on-year to TRY 1.7 trillion, fueled by a 28.1% increase in tax collections to TRY 1.5 trillion, with income tax, corporate income tax, domestic VAT, and import VAT all recording strong growth. As a result, the primary surplus narrowed to TRY 209.9 billion from TRY 276.4 billion a year earlier.