Lebanon has been recording a fiscal deficit for more than 9 years, reaching a maximum of $4.22B in 2013. The deficit narrowed by 27.18% in 2014, then deteriorated again in 2015.
The slowdown in economic growth, as shown by real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth that declined from 1.8% in 2014 to 0.5% in 2015, and the political uncertainties contributed to the 28.62% year-on-year (y-o-y) widening in fiscal deficit to $3.95B in 2015. In fact, total revenues declined by 11.98% to $9.58B, despite the 3.04% drop in total expenditures to $13.53B. Therefore, the fiscal deficit-to-GDP ratio reached 7.80% in 2015, compared to a lower ratio of 6.31% in 2014.
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