Israel's fiscal deficit continued to widen in April, reaching 7% of GDP over the past 12 months, or NIS 132.2 billion, the Ministry of Finance accountant general Yali Rothenberg reports. Thus after the first four months of the year, the deficit has already widened beyond the government's 2024 target of 6.6%.
The Ministry of Finance accountant general's office explains that in April an estimated NIS 4.8 billion in tax payments were postponed until May because of the Passover holiday. But even after taking such an amount into account the fiscal deficit would have been 6.7%.
In April itself the fiscal deficit amounted to NIS 11.7 billion. Rothenberg said, "The growth trend in the deficit will continue in the coming months despite the better than expected revenue picture.
The Ministry of Finance estimates that the annual deficit will peak in September and afterwards begin to fall 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 could be more pessimistic, and the fiscal deficit at the end of the year could be as high as 8% - a government overdraft of NIS 150 billion for the year.
Since the start of 2024, the fiscal deficit has amounted to NIS 37.6 billion, compared with a budget surplus of NIS 17.5 billion in the corresponding period of 2023.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on May 9, 2024.
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