TRNC Budget Deficit Grows Nearly Fivefold

The Central Bank of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) has published its report for the second quarter of 2024, revealing significant changes in the country’s budget. Total budget revenues for this period amounted to 13.93 billion Turkish lira, while expenditures reached 19.06 billion Turkish lira.

This sharp rise in spending has caused the budget deficit to skyrocket. In the second quarter of 2023, the deficit stood at 1.33 billion Turkish lira, but over the same period in 2024, it swelled to 5.13 billion Turkish lira—nearly five times higher. For the first half of 2024, the total budget deficit hit 3.52 billion Turkish lira.

During this quarter, the government borrowed 3.01 billion Turkish lira through the issuance of government debt securities (GDS) and repaid 3.72 billion Turkish lira, leaving a net borrowing of 2.64 billion Turkish lira.

Additionally, the Central Bank extended a short-term advance of 2.03 billion Turkish lira to the Ministry of Finance. By the end of 2023, the country’s total domestic debt stood at 865.5 million Turkish lira, but by the end of the second quarter of 2024, this had surged to 5.60 billion Turkish lira.

It was also recently reported that the total assets of the TRNC banking sector have grown by 69%, reaching an impressive 271.63 billion Turkish lira.