Israel’s fiscal deficit has risen again for the seventeenth successive month, after reaching zero in March 2023. The deficit for the twelve months to the end of August this year was 8.3% of GDP, or NIS 161 billion, Ministry of Finance Accountant General Yali Rothenberg reported today. The figure for the end of July was 8.1% of GDP, or NIS 155 billion. The deficit thus continues to drift away from the target set by the government in the revised 2024 budget approved last March, of 6.6%. RELATED ARTICLES Israel's forex reserves hit record high in August Per capita growth negative in Q2 Smotrich slams BoI Governor for not cutting rate BoI Governor: No rate cut until second half 2025 The Ministry of Finance estimates that the deficit will climb until the end of this month, and will then decline somewhat. This is because the spike in government spending in October last year when the war broke out will drop out of the twelve-month figures. Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich estimated last week that his ministry would succeed in bringing the deficit within the 6.6% of GDP target by the end of 2024. Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 9, 2024. © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.
