The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) announced yesterday that in April current income totaled $ 269.6 million, which represents a drop of 48.6% compared to the $ 524.3 million that had been budgeted for the month.

The MEF detailed in a statement that the collection most affected was from tax revenue, which generated $ 177.6 million, that is, $ 214.2 million below (-54.7%) than budgeted.

The personal property and services transfer tax (ITBMS) on sales sales generated $ 31.6 million, $ 49.6 million less (-61.1%) and the payroll tax collected $ 40 million, a drop of $ 32.3 million (-44.6%).

For its part, the property tax marked a drop from the budget of $ 16.5 million (-77%) to reach $ 4.9 million, while fuel consumption generated $ 4 million, that is, $ 12.5 million less (-75.8%) than budgeted.

The drop in income had already been noticed in March, when the first case of the new coronavirus was confirmed in the country.

Thus, if the joint data for March and April is taken as a reference, there is a drop in the collection of $ 562.7 million with respect to the budget programming.

For these two months the Government had planned to raise $ 1,244.1 million and $ 681.5 million were obtained, 45.2% less.

In the accumulated period between January to April 2020, compared to the same period in 2019, the revenue collection of the Central Government decreased by $ 396.8 million, 19.1%.

The fall in income will cause an increase in the fiscal deficit and forces the government to seek funds through debt and loan issues.