Israel's Finance Ministry revealed on Thursday in a statement that the country's budget deficit for 2023 stood at 4.2% of gross domestic product (GDP), with the uptick in the figure caused by the financing of war against Hamas. In 2022, the country registered a budget surplus of 0.6%.
In December 2023, the country's deficit came in at 33.8 billion shekels (approximately $9 billion), surging 82% year over year. During the reported month, Israel spent 17.2 billion shekels on the war.
The total deficit for 2023 was 77.5 billion shekels, as opposed to a surplus of 9.9 billion shekels recorded in 2022.
