Israel slipped back into fiscal deficit in October after government expenditure was NIS 3.1 billion higher than state revenues, the Ministry of Finance Accountant General department reports. However, since the start of the year, Israel has recorded a fiscal surplus of NIS 30.1 billion.
Over the 12 months to the end of October, the fiscal surplus amounted to NIS 8 billion, or 0.5% of GDP. The fiscal surplus over the 12 months ending September 2022 was 0.9% of GDP, totaling NIS 15.7 billion.
The Ministry of Finance said that the reason for the recent widening deficit was the delay in payment of taxes worth NIS 2.8 billion due to the holidays.
Until one year ago, Israel was deep in deficit of more than NIS 47 billion. The shift from a deficit to a surplus is considered a rare ach8ieve in national economic terms, despite the erosion of the surplus in recent months. According to the original forecast for the 2022 budget, Israel was predicted to end 2022 with a deficit of NIS 65 billion. But in practice Israel will end the year with a small surplus, or zero deficit.
According to the Ministry of Finance, in the first 10 months of 2022, state revenues have totaled NIS 366.9 billion, up from NIS 313.2 billion over the corresponding period of 2021. In uniform tax rates, revenues from taxes rose 11% and revenues from direct taxes rose 17%, while revenues from indirect taxes rose 4% and revenues from levies and fees rose 6%.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 8, 2022.
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