Israel’s fiscal deficit rose again for the seventeenth consecutive month after reaching zero in March 2023. For the twelve-month period through the end of August this year, the deficit was 8.3% of GDP, or NIS 161 billion, Finance Ministry Chief Accountant Yali Rothenberg reported today.
At the end of July, this figure was 8.1% of GDP or 155 billion. Thus, the deficit continues to drift away from the government’s target of 6.6% in the revised 2024 budget approved last March.
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The Ministry of Finance believes that the deficit will increase until the end of this month, and then decrease slightly. Because when the war started in October of last year, the increase in government spending would fall below the twelve-month figures. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich estimated last week that his ministry would be able to reduce the deficit to a target of 6.6% of GDP by the end of 2024.
Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – published on September 9, 2024.
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