Fiscal deficit at Rs 5.68 lakh crore, breaches budget estimates

Fiscal deficit rose to Rs 5.68 lakh crore in April-January period, breaching the budget estimate by 107% which may call for harder measures by the government to meet the target of 4.1% of the GDP for full 2014-15 financial year.

Fiscal deficit rose to Rs 5.68 lakh crore in April-January period, breaching the budget estimate by 107% which may call for harder measures by the government to meet the target of 4.1% of the GDP for full 2014-15 financial year.

A-labourer-stacks-bricks-on-his-head-at-the-construction-site-in-Kolkata-FM-Arun-Jaitley-announced-a-budget-aimed-at-high-growth-saying-the-pace-of-cutting-the-fiscal-deficit-would-slow-as-he-seeks-to-boost-investment-and-ensure-that-ordinary-people-benefit-Reuters-photo

As per the data released by Controller General of Accounts (CGA) on Monday, fiscal deficit during April-January period was Rs 5.68 lakh crore or 107% of the 2014-15 budget estimate of Rs 5.31 lakh crore by January-end.

The overshooting of fiscal deficit is mainly attributed to subdued revenue realisation. The fiscal deficit, the difference between government expenditure and revenue, during April-January period of 2013-14 stood at 98.2%.

In the Budget speech on Saturday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said government would achieve the 4.1% fiscal deficit target in 2014-15. The fiscal deficit target for current fiscal would be the lowest in seven years. However, government has increased the 2015-16 target to 3.9% of the GDP as against 3.6% set earlier, as part of the fiscal consolidation roadmap.