Turkey central administration budget deficit down by half in 2011, finmin

ANKARA (A.A) - January 16, 2012 - Turkey's central administration budget deficit dropped by 56.5 percent in 2011 over a year earlier, the country's finance minister has said. Mehmet Simsek said in a press conference Monday that the central administration budget ran a deficit of 17.43 billion Turkish liras in 2011 against a deficit of 40.08 billion TL in 2010. Simsek added that non-interest deficit in 2011 was 16.65 billion TL.   Simsek said inflation rate could show a limited hike in the first quarter of 2012 but it was estimated to go down by end 2012, adding that the current account deficit would also shrink.