'High fiscal deficit will curb economy'

A large fiscal deficit will not help the economy, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said today, days after the Central Bank warned that New Delhi would have a hard time meeting its targets on the gap due to higher energy costs.

A large fiscal deficit will not help the economy, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Tuesday, days after the Central Bank warned that New Delhi would have a hard time meeting its targets on the gap due to higher energy costs.

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India is aiming to narrow its fiscal deficit to 4.6% of GDP in the fiscal year to March 2012, from 5.1% in the prior year, but many analysts have said this is ambitious given last year's high one-time revenue.