The
fiscal deficit decreased from 2.3% of GDP in 2018 to 1.6% in 2019, the lowest rate since 2014, the Central Reserve Bank of Peru (BCR) has reported.
"This was mainly due to higher current revenues (0.5 percentage points of
GDP) and lower non-financial expenses (0.1 percentage points of GDP)," the issuing entity pointed out.
In 2019, the non-financial public sector recorded an economic deficit of S/12.407 billion (around US$3.729 billion), down by S/4.531 billion (around US$1.361 billion) compared to 2018.
Current revenues of the general government rose by 6.5%, reflecting the increase in tax (6%) and non-tax (8%) revenues.
The general government's non-financial expenditure grew 3.2%, primarily due to the increased current expenditure (5.3%), but was partially offset by lower expenditure in gross capital formation (-4.4%).
BCR also noted that the non-financial public sector recorded an economic deficit of S/10.449 billion (about US$3.140 billion) in December 2019, up by S/177 million (about US$53.2 million) compared to the same month in 2018.
This result was largely driven by a rise in general government's non-financial expenditures (4.2%) —mainly current ones (12.1%)— and a higher primary deficit of State-owned enterprises.
On the other hand, the
Central Reserve Bank stated that current revenues of the general government expanded 7.6% in December 2019, over the same month a year earlier, driven by a growth in tax (6.6%) and non-tax (10.9%) revenues.
(END) MDV/RMB
Published: 1/17/2020