# Expenses
**Expenses** are cash payments for a government's operational activities in providing goods and services.
These expenses include:
- **Employee compensation** (such as **wages and salaries**)
- **Interest**
- **Subsidies**
- **Grants**
- **Social benefits**
- **Other expenses** such as **rent** and **dividends**
The chart displays expense rates as a **percentage of GDP** in Israel over a **22-year period from 2000 to 2021**.
Israel has seen fluctuations in these rates, with government expenditures:
- **Peaking at 45.81% of GDP in 2002**
- **Dropping to 35.10% in 2019**
- **Rising again to 41.64% in 2020**