Israel’s fiscal deficit falls below 1%

Israel’s fiscal deficit for the twelve months to the end of April 2022 was 0.6% of GDP, after a 1.4% deficit for the twelve months to the end of March, and 2.2% for the twelve months to the end of February, the Ministry of Finance Accountant General reported today. In the 12 months to the end of April 2021, the fiscal deficit was 15.7% due to the Covid pandemic.

With a surplus of NIS 8 billion last month, April was the fourth individual month in succession in which there was a fiscal surplus. Since the beginning of the year, Israel has recorded a fiscal surplus of NIS 31.4 billion.

The twelve-month deficit as a proportion of GDP is at its lowest since 2008.

State revenues for January-March totaled more than NIS 166.6 billion, 25.6% more than in the corresponding period of last year. Alongside the growth in revenues, the Ministry of Finance has benefited from a decline in expenditure, down 15.7% within a year, to NIS 134.6 billion. The main reason for the decline is the ending of the state’s safety net for businesses and the unemployed during the coronavirus pandemic.

Minister of Finance Avigdor Liberman said, “We have reached a deficit of 0.6%. Before the elections in 2019, the deficit was 3.7% – that’s a big difference.” Liberman pledged that there won’t be any election economics.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on May 10, 2022.

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