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Israel met deficit target of 2.9 percent of GDP last year: finance minister

Israel Materials 7 January 2019 01:28 (UTC +04:00)
Israel met its budget deficit target of 2.9 percent of gross domestic product last year
Israel met deficit target of 2.9 percent of GDP last year: finance minister

Israel met its budget deficit target of 2.9 percent of gross domestic product last year, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said on Sunday, Reuters reports.

Kahlon had consistently said the government would not exceed the target, despite data in recent months indicating it could be breached.

“The finance ministry met the target,” Kahlon, who has clashed with the central bank over fiscal policies for nearly four years, said in a speech. “Israel’s economy is strong.”

The government has set the same 2.9 percent deficit target for 2019.

Data issued in October had shown the deficit over the prior 12 months jumping to 3.6 percent of GDP, raising concerns of a loosening of fiscal policy.

Official data issued after Kahlon spoke showed that the deficit was 38.9 billion shekels ($10.5 billion) in 2018, or 2.9 percent of GDP.

Of the total deficit, 14.1 billion shekels came in December, the ministry said, on a surge in state spending that more than offset a 35 percent year-on-year gain in tax income.

For all of 2018, tax revenue slipped 0.9 percent.

In 2017 the deficit had stood at 1.9 percent of GDP, in part owing to one-off tax income.

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