File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎157r] (322/834)

— 1.51
TURKEY
The Budget for 1918.
A. report lias been received of the speech of Javid Bey, the
Turkish Minister of Finance, on laying the Budget estimates ol
1918 before the Turkish Chamber of Deputies on February 21,
1918. (See Bulletin 48, p. 179.)
Javid Bey said that the decrease in estimated expenditure,
L.T. 51,000,000 against L.T. 53,000,000, was more apparent than
real, as certain items which figured in last year s estimates had
been omitted in the present ones ; for instance, the sum of
L.T. 3,170,000 for the Railwav Administration which now procures
the necessary funds, by the conclusion of various conventions and
agreements approved by the Chamber. He drew attention to the
great increase in the charge for Military Pensions. 1 us ae
risen from L.T. 2,500,000 in 1916 to L.T. 3,900,000 m 1917, and
now stood at L.T. 5,500,000 in 1918, for 183,234 pensioners, the
members of whose families were 379,289 in number, and 4avi<
Bey added that he thought that this number would not lie the
quarter of those who would receive pensions.
He estimated the normal expenditure o( the country attei
the war at L.T. 40,000,000, and said that it would then be neces
sary to establish a Budgetary equilibrium, but did not explain
how that desirable result was to be arrived at, . . , , t
With regard to the estimates of Revenue, he explained that
the estimate for the Land and House Tax had been .ncreased from
L T 1 700,000 to L.T. 2,100,000, that tor the Sheep lax trom
LX 1'200,000 to L.T. 2,500,000, because it has been doubled
by a special Law, and that for the tithe from L.T. 4,100,000 to
kx 8\800,000 owing to the great rise m the price of cere ^
This sum of L.T. 8,800,000 was a min.muinXgure ^1,^116
believed that this year the tithe would reach L. • -o >
L.T. 13,000,000, as it had done last year. Fins, said J y»
w‘is a striking proof of the disadvantages of the Lithe System,
under whiA the distress of the population g.ves rise to an
inCr Th7fp?rnTrfidtw^“n e round numbers, L.T 14,000,000.
but as he anticipated extraordinary Military expenditure to^he
extent of L.T. 60,000,000, it would be necessary to find a_o
L.T. 74,000,000 for the coming year. I revision was •Orem^
made for the first six months by the recent loan of L. L 36,000,
ccmcluded in Germany, of wh4 four millions m -arks were ear
marked for certain purchases, in Germany and Austria, roi
their further requirements, he had decided i possible no to .ssu
any more paper money, but to raise an J^teriia 1 Loan at A
per cent interest and one per cent bmking Fund, the mte est to
be naid in gold, and guarantees similar to those for foieign loai >
to to lodgef with the Ottoman Public Debt Administration. J e
revenues allotted to the service of this loan would be collected in
paper money. Six weeks before the coupon was due, the Ottoman