Fiscal deficit for the first 11 months of 2014 showed a 24.06% year-on-year (y-o-y) contraction to $3.02B, on the back of 10.39% higher revenues and 0.58% lower expenditures.
On the revenue side, tax inflows increased 3.05% yearly to $6.45B. In details, miscellaneous tax revenues inched up 8.75% to $3.14B and VAT revenues ticked up 0.57% to $2.07B. On the other hand, custom revenues lost 5.55% to $1.24B.
Telecom revenues, the biggest component of non-tax income, added 4.31% to $1.13B.
Regarding government’s expenditure, transfers to Electricite du Liban dropped 3.61% annually to $1.81B as international oil prices slashed since the second half of 2014. In contrast, interest payments on government’s debt surged 11.11% to $3.88B. The increase in interest payments was due to slightly higher average interest costs. Average cost on domestic currency augmented from 5.45% to 5.82%, while that on foreign debt went up from 5.61% to 5.81%. Worth noting that during the same period, Debt in LBP grew 10.16% to $40.87B, whereas debt in foreign currency narrowed 1.53% to $25.76B.
By November 2014, the total primary balance displayed a surplus of $1.03B compared to a primary deficit of $310M, in the same period of 2013.
Public deficit-to-GDP ratio is expected to decline to 4.9% in 2014, after having stabilized at 8.9% in 2012 and 2013.
Historical Fiscal and Primary Balances by November (In $M)
Source: Ministry of Finance