"We were very cautious in estimating 2014's budget revenue. We're going to optimize our spending," Mehmet Simsek said in a written statement. 

"As a result, we foresee that Turkey will meet its target of 33.3 billion TL for the 2014 general budget deficit."

The Ministry has estimated budget expenses for 2014 fiscal year at 436.4 billion TL ($200 billion), while budget income for 2014 is estimated at 403.2 billion TL ($184.6 billion); resulting in a budget deficit of 33.3 billion TL ($15.2 billion).

Last year's general budget was 177.9 billion TL (US$81.5). Turkey ran a budget surplus of 1.9 billion TL ($871 million) in January 2014, compared to 5.9 billion TL ($2.70) in January of 2013, with 4.2 billion TL ($1.9 billion) coming from privatization at that time.

Turkey's budgetary expenses were 30.9 billion TL (US$14.15 billion) in January of 2013.

AA