(Bloomberg) -- Israel's budget deficit narrowed by 1.2 percentage points in August, its highest monthly drop since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
The 12-month trailing deficit shrank to 8.0% of gross domestic product, down from 9.2% last month, according to a Finance Ministry report released on Monday. The Israeli government's proposed budget deficit target for 2021 is 6.8% of output.
Israeli Budget Passes First Reading in Knesset
The August deficit stood at 1.1 billion shekels ($342.7 million), while the trailing deficit stood at 45.5 billion shekels.
Government expenditure up to the end of August stood at 310.3 billion shekels, up 5.5% on the year, owing mainly to the Israel's pandemic relief program. As a percentage of GDP, it declined by 0.8%, its biggest monthly drop since the start of the pandemic last year.
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