Israel's fiscal deficit widens to 12.1%

Yisrael Katz Photo; ASAP Creative Shutterstock

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Israel's fiscal deficit climbed to NIS 166.4 billion, for the 12 months to the end of January 2021, even though government revenues rose last month.

Israel's fiscal deficit widened to 12.1% of GDP, or NIS 166.4 billion, for the 12 months to the end of January 2021, up from 11.7% at the end of December, the Ministry of Finance reports. In January itself, the fiscal deficit was NIS 1 billion compared with a surplus of NIS 5.9 billion in January 2020, before the Covid-19 crisis struck.

Government expenditure in January 2021 was NIS 34.6 billion, up 25.1% from January 2020. Without government aid to the economy during the crisis, expenditure fell 0.8% from January 2020.

Government revenues in January 2021 totaled NIS 34.5 billion, up 2.7% from January 2020. Revenue from direct taxes amounted to NIS 19.6 billion, up 7.6% from January 2020 and revenue from indirect taxes was NIS 13.7 billion, down 3.6% from January 2020.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on February 7, 2021