New Delhi: The Union government’s fiscal deficit at the end of the first five months of the current fiscal touched 27 per cent of the full-year target. Data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) showed this.
Fiscal deficit is the difference between the total expenditure and revenue of the government. It is an indication of the total borrowing that is needed by the government.
As per data, the fiscal deficit was at Rs 4,35,176 crore as of August-end. The deficit stood at 36 per cent of the Budget Estimates (BE) in the corresponding period of 2023-24.
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In the Union Budget, the government projected to bring down the fiscal deficit to 4.9 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the current 2024-25 financial year. The deficit was 5.6 per cent of the GDP in 2023-24.
The government aims to contain the fiscal deficit at Rs 16,13,312 crore during the current fiscal.
The net tax revenue was Rs 8.7 lakh crore or 33.8 per cent of the BE for the current fiscal. The net tax revenue collection was 34.5 per cent at July-end 2023. The central government’s total expenditure in the four months through August stood at Rs 16.5 lakh crore or 34.3 per cent of BE. The expenditure was 37.1 per cent of the BE in the year-ago period.
Of the total expenditure, Rs 13,51,367 crore was in the revenue account and Rs 3,00,987 crore was in the capital account. Out of the total revenue expenditure, Rs 4,00,160 crore was towards interest payments.
In the latest Budget 2024-25 presented on July 23, the central government lowered its fiscal deficit target to 4.9% of GDP for the financial year, as compared with 5.1% in the interim budget in February. The country’s budget gap stood at 5.6 per cent of GDP last fiscal year.
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