The primary surplus, which excludes debt service, reached $201 million compared to a primary deficit of $6.6 million in the same month last year.

Total expenses reached $769 million during the same month, compared to $450.5 million in the January of last year. The fall in expenses was mainly due to the drop in Electricite Du Liban’s (EDL’s) expenses by 77 percent to $62 million on an impact of the drop in international fuel prices.

The report showed that the government’s total expenses, that exclude debt service, reached $550 million in January, down from $819.5 million last year.

Total revenues reached $692 million in January, down ten percent from the same month last year, said the report. The drop came despite an 11 percent increase in interest revenues (which include Value Added Tax (VAT) and customs revenues) to $645 million which was offset by a substantial 75 percent drop in non-interest income to $47 million.