Israel's budget deficit continues to narrow

JERUSALEM, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Israel's budget deficit over the 12-month period ended in March has declined to 22 billion new shekels (6.83 billion U.S. dollars), according to a report released by the country's finance ministry on Sunday.

This deficit figure, between April 2021 and March 2022, accounts for 1.4 percent of Israel's gross domestic product, the lowest rate since 2008, the ministry noted.

The report said the continuing increase in state revenues and decline in government expenditures have helped to narrow the budget deficit.

Since the beginning of 2022, the Israeli government's revenues reached 125.6 billion shekels, up by 29.3 percent year on year, while the expenditures totaled 102.2 billion shekels, which saw a declination of 15.2 percent from the same period of last year.

The report attributed the spending declination in the first quarter to the Israeli government's gradual withdrawal from the financial support plan for the COVID-19 pandemic, which was launched in July 2020 to help the vulnerable in the country.

In the first quarter, a surplus of 23.4 billion shekels was recorded in the Israeli budget, compared with a deficit of 23.3 billion shekels in the same period last year. A surplus of 700 million shekels was recorded in March, compared to a deficit of 12.2 billion shekels in March 2021.

This is the first time since 2007 that in a single quarter, a surplus is recorded in each of all three months.