Israel's fiscal deficit continued to widen in April, reaching 7% of GDP over the past 12 months, or NIS 132.2 billion, according to Finance Ministry Accountant General Eli Rotenberg.
Israel's fiscal deficit continued to widen in April, reaching 7% of GDP over the past 12 months, or NIS 132.2 billion, according to Finance Ministry Accountant General Eli Rotenberg. Thus, after the first four months of the year, the deficit has already widened beyond the government's 2024 target of 6.6%.
The Office of the Accountant General of the Ministry of Finance explains that in April, the payment of taxes amounting to NIS 4.8 billion was postponed until May due to the Passover holiday. But even after taking this amount into account, the fiscal deficit would have reached 6.7%.
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In April the same year, the fiscal deficit reached 11.7 billion shekels. “The deficit growth trend will continue in the coming months despite the better-than-expected revenue picture,” Rothenberg said.
The Ministry of Finance estimates that the annual deficit will peak in September, and then begin to decline to 6.6% by the end of the year, the figure on which the 2024 budget was approved. In contrast, the Accountant General's Office believes that at the current rate of government spending, the picture may be more pessimistic, and the fiscal deficit at the end of the year may reach 8% – a government overdraft of NIS 150 billion for Israel. year.
Since the beginning of 2024, the fiscal deficit has reached 37.6 billion shekels, compared to a budget surplus of 17.5 billion shekels in the corresponding period of 2023.
Published by Globes, Israel Business News – en.globes.co.il – on May 9, 2024.
© Copyright Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.
Yali Rotenberg Credit: Shlomi Yosef
