Lebanon’s fiscal deficit (Budgetary & Treasury) expanded by 2.65% y-o-y in January 2021 to around $688 million, compared to $670 million a year earlier. The primary balance (Budget & Treasury) was a deficit of $427 million, in comparison with a deficit of $326 million in January 2020. In detail, the deep economic recession has taken a toll on government revenues (Budget & Treasury) which tumbled by 50.86% y-o-y to around $502 million, with tax revenues dropping by 47.85% to $421.27 million and non-tax revenues plunging by 66.21% to $48.63 million. The drop in tax revenues came as a result of the 53.45% dip in VAT revenues to $100.99 million, the 3.89% decrease in customs revenues to $63.57 million and the 52.01% contraction in miscellaneous tax revenues to $234.98 million. On the other hand, the drop in non-tax revenues was affected by the fact that no telecom revenues were recorded in January 2021 in comparison with $66.33 million in telecom revenues a year earlier. Concurrently, government expenditures (Budget & Treasury) (including debt service) fell by 29.65% y-o-y in January 2021 to about $1.19 billion as debt service dwindled by 24.21% to $261 million in the aftermath of the government’s decision in March 2020 to suspend Eurobond payments. In addition, budget expenditures over previous years dropped by 48.55% to around $323.76 million, with transfers to Electricité Du Liban (EDL) contracting by 84.90% to $28.67 million.