According to Ministry of Finance (MoF) latest figures, Lebanon’s fiscal balance (cash basis) decreased by 108.40% from last year to register a first time surplus of $186.68M by June 2021.
In detail, the government revenues (including treasuries) added 29.56% on yearly basis to stand at $5,977.30M by June 2021. On the counterpart, total expenditures (including treasuries) retreated yearly by 15.30% to $5,790.63M by June 2021. It is worth noting that the primary balance which excludes debt service posted a surplus of $1,109.36M, compared to a deficit of $725.03M during the same period last year.
Fiscal revenues recorded a yearly increase by 40.59% to stand at $5,576.64M. Tax revenues (constituting 80.68% of total revenues) added an annual 38.05% to $4,602.33M by June 2021. Revenues from VAT (19.29% of total tax receipts) added 118.89% y-o-y to $1,235.48M.
As for Non-tax revenues (19.32% of total revenues), they increased from $632.62M by June 2020 to $974.31M by June 2021. Meanwhile, “Telecom revenues” added annually 79.62% to stand at $357.46M by the same period.
On the expenditures’ side, transfers to Electricity du Liban (EDL) (5.9% of general expenditure) decreased by 20.78% to reach $343.50M. Moreover, total debt servicing (including the interest payments and principal repayment) reached $965.10M by June 2021, down by a yearly 28.36% such that interest payments alone retreated by 29.27% y-o-y to $901.66M. In details, interest payments on domestic debt slumped by 22.69% y-o-y to $881.35. Meanwhile, interest payments on foreign debt registered a year-on-year significant drop by 84.95% to $20.31M.
In its turn, the treasury transactions (includes revenues and spending that are of temporary nature) posted a surplus of $42.42M by June 2021 compared to last year’s deficit of $151.18M.
Yearly Fiscal deficit by June (in $M)
Source: Ministry of Finance, BLOMINVEST Bank