Intelligence, religious affairs set to take huge share of Turkey’s 2016 budget

Neşe Karanfil - ANKARA

DHA photo

Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency (MİT) and Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) will see dramatic rises in their shares of the upcoming year’s budget, according to the new Medium-Term Economic Program and the Financial Plan, which were released through the Official Gazette on Oct. 11.The new program has predicted a total of 1.63 billion Turkish Liras allocated to the MİT, constituting a 47 percent increase from the unit’s share in the 2015 budget. Equity costs, namely investments, have played a great role in the need for a hike in the MİT’s share of the budget, according to the program. The new program has forecasted around 4.5 billion liras of budget resources to the Interior Ministry, 20.2 billion liras to the police forces and 26.1 billion liras to the Defense Ministry in 2016.Diyanet’s share of the budget has surpassed the budgets of 12 ministries, according to the financial plan of the program. Diyanet is forecasted to get 6.48 billion liras from the 2016 budget, although its share was 5.74 billion liras in this year’s budget.There was also a dramatic increase seen in the forecasted financial resources for the Family and Social Policies Ministry. While the ministry took 18.2 billion liras from the 2015 budget, it is forecasted to take 24.2 billion liras from the 2016 budget.The Medium-Term Economic Program and the Financial Plan were published in the framework of the budget calendar. Although the draft budget could not be discussed in parliament this year as there was not a permanent cabinet, a draft 2016 budget must be presented to parliament by Oct. 17. The Financial Plan includes how much money needs to be allocated to which public institutions and agencies, while parliament gives the final shape. As there will be elections on Nov. 1, a temporary budget will be released rather than a draft budget. A law will be issued to realize this move.