Israel state budget deficit has climbed to NIS 70 billion, compared to NIS 24 billion in August 2019, representing 7.2% of the budget, according to data released by the Finance Ministry on Wednesday.
The increase in government spending as a result of the coronavirus pandemic since its beginning adds up to NIS 22.6 billion so far.
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Finance Minister Israel Katz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
(Photo: Avi Cohen)
State income as a result of the crisis has shrunk by nearly NIS 32 billion – NIS 20 billion less in tax revenue and another NIS 12 billion lost in national insurance payments.
All of this, despite the fact Israel's population grew by 2% in the last year.
Ministerial expenses have gone up by 11%, but due to a state budget not being approved yet – it does not include the expenses paid to deal with the coronavirus pandemic – it is a decrease of 0.5% from last year.
The rise in ministry spending stems from the current budget law, that states that in the absence of a government budget, ministries are allotted each month 1/12 of the amount approved in the previous budget
As of Wednesday, NIS 56.9 billion of the government's aid packages approved to deal with the economic crisis.
The budget deficit for July 2020 was NIS 12 billion, and over the past 12 months has reached NIS 98.4 billion.