Lebanon’s fiscal deficit (Budgetary & Treasury) widened by 70.86% in the first quarter of 2020 to around $1.66 billion, compared to $969 million a year earlier. The primary balance (Budget & Treasury) was a deficit of $676 million, in comparison with a surplus of $30 million in the first three months of 2019. In detail, government revenues (Budget & Treasury) fell by 13.57% y-o-y to around $2.23 billion owing to a 12.48% drop in tax revenues to $1.73 billion, coupled with a 19.85% plunge in non-tax revenues to $366.48 million. The drop in tax revenues came as a result of the 42.28% dip in VAT revenues to $328.59 million and a 38.62% decrease in customs revenues to $185.30 million, eclipsing the 9.97% expansion in miscellaneous tax revenues to $1,217.82 million. Similarly, the drop in non-tax revenues is mainly attributed to the 38.67% contraction in telecom revenues to $132.67 million. Concurrently, government expenditures (Budget & Treasury) (including debt service) rose by 9.50% on an annual basis to about $3.88 billion by March 2020. In fact, general expenditures soared by 18.02% to $2.72 billion, in part owing to a 60.14% increase in budget expenditures over previous years to around $1.04 billion, coupled with a 2.81% rise in transfers to Electricité Du Liban (EDL) to $301.86 million. On the other hand, treasury expenditures sank by 24.98% y-o-y to $180.12 million. Debt service continued to weigh heavily on the government’s finances, yet fell by 1.90% y-o-y to around $979 million as at end of March as a result of the government’s decision to suspend payment of Eurobonds. Consequently, the deficit to total expenditures ratio widened to 42.63% by March 2020, compared to 27.32% in the same period last year.