JERUSALEM: According to a report released by the Israel's finance ministry, the country's budget deficit decreased to 22 billion new shekels (USD 6.83 billion) in the 12-month period ending in March.
As per Xinhua report citing sources, the deficit between April 2021 and March 2022 accounts for 1.4 percent of Israel's gross domestic product, the lowest rate since 2008. The report, the budget deficit has been narrowed due to continued increases in state revenues and decreases in government spending.
Revenues for the Israeli government reached 125.6 billion shekels in the first quarter of 2022, up 29.3% from the same period last year, while expenditures totaled 102.2 billion shekels, down 15.2% from the same period last year.
The decline in spending in the first quarter was attributable to the Israeli government's progressive withdrawal from the financial support plan for the Covid-19 pandemic, which was started in July 2020 to assist the country's most needy citizens.
The Israeli budget posted a surplus of 23.4 billion shekels in the first quarter, compared to a loss of 23.3 billion shekels in the same quarter last year. In March, there was a surplus of 700 million shekels, compared to a deficit of 12.2 billion shekels in March 2021. This is the first time since 2007 that a surplus has been reported in each of the three months of a quarter.
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