It is observed that the share of the consolidated budget year-end allocations in the GNP is gradually increasing in Turkey. While the shares of the budget year-end allocations were 18 percent in 1987, it increased to 27.5 percent in 1996. This ratio was realized at 23.4 percent in 1997. The GNP of Turkey in 1998 came to 204 billion US dollars and the year-end budget allocations were at the 32 billion US dollars level.
An examination of the 10 year period between 1987-1997 shows that there is an increasing trend in the ratio of the budget revenues to the GNP. The share of budget revenues in the GNP was 13.9 percent in 1987 and increased to 19.8 percent in 1997. The ratio of budget revenues to the GNP sustained its increasing trend also in 1998 and was realized at 22.3 percent.
There have been significant increases in the ratio of budget deficits to the GNP especially after 1990, due to the increase in expenses in parallel with budget revenues. The share of budget deficits in the GNP which was 3 percent in 1990, increased to 6.7 percent in 1993. Budget deficits were reduced due to measures taken within the framework of the Economic Measures Application Plan which was put into practice in 1994.
In fact, the ratio of budget revenues in the GNP was increased 1.4 points, while the ratio of budget expenses decreased 1.4 points compared with the previous year and thus, the ratio of the budget deficit to the GNP decreased 2.8 points and became 3.9 percent in 1994. This ratio, which was 4 percent in 1995, increased to 8.2 percent in 1996, in parallel with the increase in expenses in the same year, and was realized at 7.6 and 7.2 percent respectively in 1997 and 1998. The fact that there is a budget surplus in general, if the interests are excluded, is an indication that the budget deficits originate from the interests.