According to Ministry of Finance (MoF) latest figures, Lebanon’s fiscal balance (cash basis) decreased by 117.83% from last year to register a surplus of $374.28M by July 2021 for the 4th month in a row.
In details, the government revenues (including treasuries) added 32.57% on yearly basis to stand at $7,285.73M by July 2021. On the counterpart, total expenditures (including treasuries) retreated yearly by 8.99% to $6,911.44M by July 2021. It is worth noting that the primary balance which excludes debt service posted a surplus of $1,408.51M, compared to a deficit of $477.20M during the same period last year.
Fiscal revenues recorded a yearly increase by 42.28% to stand at $6,784.78M. Tax revenues (constituting 80.68% of total revenues) added an annual 39.03% to $5,613.82M by July 2021. Revenues from VAT (29.50% of total tax receipts) added 139.77% y-o-y to $1,591.83M.
As for Non-tax revenues (16.28% of total revenues), they increased from $738.51M by July 2020 to $1,170.96M by July 2021. Meanwhile, “Telecom revenues” added annually 132.74% to stand at $463.17M by the same period.
On the expenditures’ side, transfers to Electricity du Liban (EDL) (8% of general expenditure) decreased by 20.10% to reach $427.59M. Moreover, total debt servicing (including the interest payments and principal repayment) reached $1,144.60M by July 1,391.97 2021, down by a yearly 17.77% such that interest payments alone retreated by 18.21% y-o-y to 1,066.72M. In details, interest payments on domestic debt slumped by 10.74% y-o-y to $1,039.46. Meanwhile, interest payments on foreign debt registered a year-on-year significant drop by 80.49% to $27.26M.
In its turn, the treasury transactions (includes revenues and spending that are of temporary nature) posted a surplus of $110.38M by July 2021 compared to last year’s deficit of $229.64M.
Yearly Fiscal deficit by July (in $M)
Source: Ministry of Finance, BlomInvest