Managing the state through a temporary budget which limits spending led to deficit drop to 3.2%

The State of Israel ended January with a budget surplus of NIS 5.9 billion. That's how the Treasury published. Among the reasons for the big surplus - managing the state through a temporary budget and higher than expected tax revenues.
According to the Treasury announcement, government spending in January reached NIS 27.7 billion. January's state revenues were pleasantly surprised and reached NIS 33.6 billion, a figure that reflects a nominal increase of 11.9% compared to January 2019. This is a figure that could indicate improvement in economic activity, however, as today's senior deficit treasurers are also expected to rebound after approving a new state budget that will require Increase in government spending.
Following the January data, the current deficit (for the last 12 months) drops to 3.2% of GDP (compared with 3.8% in December). However, the Bank of Israel estimates that the Israeli government's level of structural deficit (ie the basic or fixed deficit) exceeds 4% of GDP.
Three major factors contributed to the large surplus. The first is managing the state through a temporary budget, which severely limits the scope of government spending. In January, there were large debt and interest payments, which was left by Accountant General Roni Hezekiah, a relatively small amount to finance government spending. "The reported decrease in government ministry spending in January is projected as a result of the 'continuing budget' where there is a uniform monthly cap over all months, while there are relatively high government debt and government interest payments in certain months, especially in the first half of the year. Which are a top priority for payment, require actions to reduce cash quotas for office expenses and create surplus relative to the overall monthly quota, "the Treasury release said.
The second factor for surplus in January is seasonal. For example, the state ended January 2018 with a surplus of NIS 4.7 billion. January 2019 was exceptional because the Treasury did not anticipate December's spending as it used to do in previous years, due to efforts to prevent an exception to the budget deficit.
The third factor is tax revenue. The increase in revenues in January is explained, among other things, in an unusual transaction that brought the state coffers a lump sum of NIS 600 million and an increase in the tax on hybrid vehicles (which led to the introduction of the purchase of vehicles) - which contributed to the tax authority's estimate of another NIS 300 million in January.