Israel's fiscal deficit widens to 12.1%

Yisrael Katz Photo; ASAP Creative Shutterstock

S&P could downgrade Israel again this week

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