Lebanon’s fiscal deficit (Budgetary & Treasury) narrowed by 20.32% on an annual basis to around $3.59 billion in the first nine months of the current year, compared to $4.51 billion during that same period last year. Concurrently, the primary balance (Budget & Treasury) registered a surplus of $197 million, in comparison with a deficit of $591 million at end of September 2018. In detail, government revenues (Budget & Treasury) fell by 2.05% y-o-y to just above $8.49 billion owing to a 40.50% nosedive in treasury transaction revenues to $386.23 million, which outweighed the 0.87% increase in tax revenues to $6.60 billion and the 1.95% rise in non-tax revenues to $1.50 billion. The improvement in tax revenues comes as a result of the 8.18% expansion in miscellaneous tax revenues to $3.93 billion eclipsing the 9.55% dip in VAT revenues to $1.71 billion and the 5.92% decrease in customs revenues to $955.85 million. On the other hand, non-tax revenues were dragged by the 4.12% contraction in telecom revenues to $624.15 million. In parallel, government expenditures (Budget & Treasury) (including debt service) plunged by 8.30% on a yearly basis to about $12.09 billion by September 2019. In fact, general expenditures receded by 9.38% to $7.31 billion, with transfers to Electricité Du Liban (EDL) shedding 8.13% to $1.13 billion, while budget expenditures over previous years soared by 39.17% to just over $1.41 billion. Treasury expenditures also sank by 17.43% annually to $987.49 million. Debt service continued to weigh heavily on the government’s finances although it dropped by 3.28% y-o-y to around $3.79 billion, from $3.92 billion a year before. Consequently, the deficit to total expenditures ratio narrowed to 29.72% by September 2019, from 34.20% a year ago. In addition, the linearly extrapolated deficit to GDP ratio based on September’s figures is estimated at 8.22%, compared to a target deficit to GDP ratio of 7.59% in the 2019 draft budget law.