A preliminary report from the Ministry of Finance on the Treasury’s figures for August 2000 showed that the deficit spending ratio dropped to 46.1 percent from 55.4 percent in July 2000, but was still higher than the 26.8 percent registered in August 1999.
The lower ratio was due to a 14.5 percent drop in the deficit resulting from a 24.4 percent increase in revenues, compared to an increase of 2.8 percent in expenditures. For the first eight months of 2000, government revenues and expenditures equaled $1,979 million and $4,163 million respectively, resulting in a deficit of $2,185 million.
For 1999, the equivalent figures were $2,252 million in revenue and $3,839 million in spending, and a deficit of $1,586 million. The deficit spending ratio in the first 8 months of 2000 equaled 2.48 percent, above the government's target of 36 percent for the whole of 2000, and higher than the 41.33 percent recorded over the same period in 1999. — ( Banque du Liban et d'Outre-Mer Sal )
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
