Public deficit widens
in first quarter of 2020

Less revenues and more expenditures

The fiscal deficit for the first three months of 2020 has almost doubled compared with the same period of last year. Total deficit has jumped from LL1.3 trillion to LL2.4 trillion.

When expressed in contemporaneous foreign currency exchange rates, the deficit would have widened by 12 percent when calculated in dollars. During the first quarter of 2019, the average exchange rate was LL1,507 to the dollar, i.e. the corresponding deficit was $862 million. The average rate during the same period this year was LL2,477 which brings the corresponding deficit to $968 million.

According to figures published by the Ministry of Finance, revenues (expressed in lira) have dropped by 14 percent and expenses have increased by 12 percent. The primary result, which recorded a small surplus during the first quarter of 2019, switched to negative territory in the same period of 2020 registering a deficit of more than one trillion lira.