Lebanon’s fiscal deficit (Budgetary & Treasury) narrowed by 14.99% on an annual basis to around $4.02 billion in the first ten months of 2019, compared to $4.73 billion during that same period in 2018. Concurrently, the primary balance (Budget & Treasury) registered a surplus of $217 million, in comparison with a deficit of $402 million at end of October 2018. In detail, government revenues (Budget & Treasury) fell by 5.49% y-o-y to just below $9.38 billion owing to a 4.05% drop in tax revenues to $7.19 billion and a 36.53% nosedive in treasury transaction revenues to $439.32 million, which outweighed the 0.61% rise in non-tax revenues to $1.75 billion. The decline in tax revenues comes as a result of the 19.32% dip in VAT revenues to $1.85 billion and the 8.99% decrease in customs revenues to $1.03 billion, eclipsing the 5.95% expansion in miscellaneous tax revenues to $4.31 billion. On the other hand, the rise in non-tax revenues came in spite of the 0.44% contraction in telecom revenues to $797.49 million. In parallel, government expenditures (Budget & Treasury) (including debt service) plunged by 8.56% on a yearly basis to about $13.40 billion by October 2019. In fact, general expenditures receded by 10.29% to $8.11 billion, with transfers to Electricité Du Liban (EDL) shedding 5.24% to $1.31 billion, while budget expenditures over previous years soared by 43.57% to just below $1.46 billion. Treasury expenditures also sank by 18.18% annually to $1.05 billion. Debt service continued to weigh heavily on the government’s finances although it dropped by 2.09% y-o-y to around $4.24 billion, from $4.33 billion a year before. Consequently, the deficit to total expenditures ratio narrowed to 30.03% by October 2019, from 32.30% a year earlier. In addition, the linearly extrapolated deficit to GDP ratio based on October’s figures is estimated at 8.29%, compared to a target deficit to GDP ratio of 7.59% in the 2019 draft budget law.