FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IN TURKEY: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

The financial sustainability of local governments is of great importance for the efficient delivery of public services inthe local area. In this study, the long-term relationship between the variables of budget revenues-budget expendituresand tax revenues-budget expenditures for local governments in seven geographical regions in Turkey in the period2010:Q1-2019:Q1 was investigated. In the research phase, were used second generation panel unit root tests andcointegration techniques within the framework of the financial sustainability procedure determined by Hakkio andRush (1991) and Quintos (1995). In the relevant period, it was concluded that budget deficits were sustainable in weakform for the local governments in the seven geographical regions according to both budget revenues and tax revenues.