Israel had a fiscal deficit of NIS 3.3% of GDP, in the 12 months to the end of January 2022, the Ministry of Finance Accountant General reported today in its initial estimate, down from 4.5% at the end of December 2021.
This is much improved from the 11.7% budget deficit at the end of 2020 and even an improvement on the pre-Covid situation. The budget fiscal deficit was 3.7% at the end of 2019.
There was an NIS 18.5 billion budget surplus in January 2022 due to a dramatic increase in government revenues to NIS 48 billion, up 38.9% from January 2021. Government expenditure in January 2022 was NIS 29.5 billion, down 15.1% from January 2021, when government expenditure was high due to economic assistance during the third lockdown. Without that government assistance, government expenditure rose 4.8% in January 2022.
In light of this data, the Israeli government can well afford the NIS 4.4 billion package it unveiled yesterday to lower the cost of living.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on February 10, 2022.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2022.