Turkey’s rapidly growing economy continued to be the bearer of good news on Thursday as the country announced a budget surplus of TL 2.1 billion ($1.2 billion) for the January-August period and a lower unemployment rate of 9.2 percent in June of this year.
The announcement comes only days after news of an 8.8 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth recorded in the second quarter hit the headlines and at a time when most developed economies in the West, including the United States, are struggling to put their own houses in order as their economies are experiencing trouble on multiple fronts. The news lifted the shares at the İstanbul Stock Exchange (İMKB). The benchmark İMKB-100 index rose 1.16 percent over the closing a day earlier during the second trading session on Thursday.
The surplus the Turkish budget experienced in the first eight months of this year is a success story, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said, announcing the figures on the Treasury’s spending and revenues between January and September. The country’s budget suffered a budget deficit of TL 14.4 billion in the same period a year ago.
Şimşek’s ministry has in recent years intensified audits to fight tax evasion and also adopted a policy of increasing the rate of tax collection in the country. The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government collected 85 percent of the tax it was supposed to collect last year. In earlier remarks, Şimşek said the Turkish fiscal policy’s focus this year will be on increasing employment across the country, through easing employment costs on the part of employers as the state’s ability to collect taxes increases. The government, which won a third term in the June 12 parliamentary elections, however, has regularly dismissed the possibility of tax hikes this year.Turkey’s rapidly growing economy continued to be the bearer of good news on Thursday as the country announced a budget surplus of TL 2.1 billion ($1.2 billion) for the January-August period and a lower unemployment rate of 9.2 percent in June of this year.
The announcement comes only days after news of an 8.8 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth recorded in the second quarter hit the headlines and at a time when most developed economies in the West, including the United States, are struggling to put their own houses in order as their economies are experiencing trouble on multiple fronts. The news lifted the shares at the İstanbul Stock Exchange (İMKB). The benchmark İMKB-100 index rose 1.16 percent over the closing a day earlier during the second trading session on Thursday.
The surplus the Turkish budget experienced in the first eight months of this year is a success story, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said, announcing the figures on the Treasury’s spending and revenues between January and September. The country’s budget suffered a budget deficit of TL 14.4 billion in the same period a year ago.
Şimşek’s ministry has in recent years intensified audits to fight tax evasion and also adopted a policy of increasing the rate of tax collection in the country. The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government collected 85 percent of the tax it was supposed to collect last year. In earlier remarks, Şimşek said the Turkish fiscal policy’s focus this year will be on increasing employment across the country, through easing employment costs on the part of employers as the state’s ability to collect taxes increases. The government, which won a third term in the June 12 parliamentary elections, however, has regularly dismissed the possibility of tax hikes this year.
Turkey’s rapidly growing economy continued to be the bearer of good news on Thursday as the country announced a budget surplus of TL 2.1 billion ($1.2 billion) for the January-August period and a lower unemployment rate of 9.2 percent in June of this year.
The announcement comes only days after news of an 8.8 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth recorded in the second quarter hit the headlines and at a time when most developed economies in the West, including the United States, are struggling to put their own houses in order as their economies are experiencing trouble on multiple fronts. The news lifted the shares at the İstanbul Stock Exchange (İMKB). The benchmark İMKB-100 index rose 1.16 percent over the closing a day earlier during the second trading session on Thursday.
The surplus the Turkish budget experienced in the first eight months of this year is a success story, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said, announcing the figures on the Treasury’s spending and revenues between January and September. The country’s budget suffered a budget deficit of TL 14.4 billion in the same period a year ago.
Şimşek’s ministry has in recent years intensified audits to fight tax evasion and also adopted a policy of increasing the rate of tax collection in the country. The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government collected 85 percent of the tax it was supposed to collect last year. In earlier remarks, Şimşek said the Turkish fiscal policy’s focus this year will be on increasing employment across the country, through easing employment costs on the part of employers as the state’s ability to collect taxes increases. The government, which won a third term in the June 12 parliamentary elections, however, has regularly dismissed the possibility of tax hikes this year.