JERUSALEM, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon announced on Sunday that the country achieved its 2018 government budget deficit target of 2.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
In December 2018, the ministry acted to reduce the deficit drastically from 3.5 percent of GDP to below the target of 3 percent set by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Bank of Israel.
One of the ways in which the ministry succeeded in sharply reducing the deficit was a massive expansion of tax collection in the last two months, at the expense of assessments that were due to be collected in 2019.
According to initial data provided by the ministry, the 2018 deficit stood at 38.9 billion new shekels (about 10.48 billion U.S. dollars). In 2017, the deficit stood at 24.6 billion new shekels (6.6 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for 1.9 percent of GDP.
"The Israeli economy is in its best condition to date, and the proof lies in the facts. Under our watch, both the economy and the citizens are strong," Kahlon said at an employee-awards ceremony in his office.
"In our newspapers, they may say that we played with the numbers. All of these numbers are monitored by international companies," he added.
