European commission lauds Turkey's 2010 budget

Turkey's 2010 budget won praise this week from the European Commission. In its economic evaluation report for EU candidate and potential candidate countries, the commission stressed that Turkey showed a better-than-expected budget performance in 2010. Focusing on budget-related figures through last November, the report said, "Turkey showed a budget performance above expectations in 2010 thanks to a great rise in indirect taxes receipts due to the solid recovery in domestic demand." Pointing to a nearly 27 rise in tax revenues, even as public expenditures went up by only 15 percent, the report added, "Thanks to this, Turkey tripled its primary surplus and managed to halve its budget deficit last year."