Indonesia's end-March fiscal deficit at 0.82% of GDP; Covid-19 daily cases at 4,402 and total above 1.64 million

A passenger gets his Covid-19 coronavirus screening done at the Sultan Iskandar Muda International airport at Blang Bintang, on April 25, 2021. - AFP

JAKARTA, April 25 (Reuters/Xinhua): Indonesia ran a budget deficit of 144.2 trillion rupiah (US$9.93 billion) as of the end of March, or 0.82% of GDP, as tax revenues shrank while spending rose to support economic recovery, the finance ministry has announced.

Total government spending increased by 15.6% year-on-year to 523 trillion rupiah, while total revenue rose by just 0.6% amid a 5.6% contraction in income from tax payments.