The Cost of the Gaza War: Israeli Economy Struggling with $16 Billion Bill

Al-Marsad Newspaper – Agencies: The bill for the Gaza war on the Israeli economy, seven months after it began, reached about 60 billion shekels ($16 billion).

Lack of finances

Data from Israel’s Finance Ministry showed yesterday, Thursday, that the fiscal deficit, which has been running for 12 months, rose to 7 percent of gross domestic product since April, higher than estimated. of the government of 6.6 percent for the year 2024. .

Amount of expenses

Spending rose nearly 36% in the first four months of 2024, compared to the same period last year, with defense spending accounting for nearly a third and revenue falling 2.2%, to largely due to lower tax payments.

The biggest deficit ever

According to the group, Israel is on its way to “the largest budget deficit ever this century,” with the spending burden among the factors keeping Israel’s currency under pressure.

The check bounced

Yesterday, Thursday, the check saw a decline of 0.3 percent against the dollar, leading to a decline of 4.5 percent since the beginning of March, recording the second worst performance among the 31 major currencies on discovered by “Bloomberg.”

Israel’s Finance Ministry said that delays in some tax payments between April and May due to the Easter holiday contributed to a wider fiscal deficit if this was done on time, the accumulated deficit would have reaching around 6.7% of GDP.