Turkish finmin says budget revenues up 19.5 pct

ANKARA (A.A) - February 15, 2012 - Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Wednesday that budget incomes rose by 19.5 percent to 28.1 billion Turkish lira (TL) in January 2012 compared to the same month of 2011. (One USD is 1.7610 TL) Replying to questions of reporters in a gathering in Ankara, Simsek said that budget expenditures increased by 17.1 percent to 26.3 billion TL in the mentioned month. Simsek said budget surplus rose by 73.1 percent to 1.7 billion TL in January 2012 compared to the same month of 2011, hitting a record. Primary surplus which had been 4.8 billion TL in January 2011 climbed to 7.1 billion TL in the same month of 2012, he said. It was an important indicator of budget's great performance, he said.