Yawning budget deficit reported for Q3

AMMAN — The post-grant budget deficit by the end of the third quarter of this year increased to JD726.6 million, compared with JD515.3 million during the same period of the last year, the Finance Ministry announced on Tuesday.

When excluding foreign grants, the budget deficit stood at JD891.4 million by the end of September 2017, compared with JD818.9 million during the same period of 2016, the ministry said in its monthly bulletin, carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Local revenues in the first nine months of 2017 went up by JD149.1 million, amounting to JD4.97 billion, compared with JD4.82 billion during the same period of last year. 

Meanwhile, expenditures totalled JD5.86 billion in the first three quarters of 2017, marking an increase from JD5.64 billion registered of same period 2016.

The ministry also announced that the Kingdom’s debt-GDP ratio in the first nine months of the year went down to 94.8 per cent, compared with 95.1 per cent reported for the same period last year.

Ministry data showed that the Kingdom’s general debt in the first three quarters of 2017 stood at JD26.9 billion, compared with JD26.09 billion during the same period of 2016.