Expenditure for the period April to June amounted to $56.4 billion and revenue to $39.7 billion, resulting in a deficit of $16.7 billion, the Government says.

Announcing the figures today, it said a deficit in the initial months of a financial year was not unusual as many types of revenue including taxes were mostly received towards the end of the year.

The fiscal reserves stood at $279.3 billion on June 30.