Fiscal deficit at 5.5% with help of partial stimulus rollback

The Finance Minister on Friday presented Union Budget with fiscal deficit of 5.5 per cent of GDP as he pegged total expenditure at Rs 11.09 lakh crore while the total tax and non-tax revenue estimated at Rs 6.82 lakh crore for the year 2010-11.

The deficit is much lower than the budgeted estimate for the current fiscal at 6.8 per cent, which, however, has been revised to 6.7 per cent.

To meet the shortfall, the government has estimated borrowing of Rs 3.81 lakh crore for fiscal 2010-11, lower than the current fiscal's Rs 4.01 lakh crore.

"I am happy to report that against a fiscal deficit of 7.8 per cent in 2008-09, inclusive of oil and fertiliser bonds, the comparable fiscal deficit is 6.9 per cent as per the revised estimates for 2009-10," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

The rolling targets for fiscal deficit are pegged at 4.8 per cent and 4.1 per cent for 2011-12 and 2012-13, respectively, Mukherjee said.