Fiscal deficit touches 92% of budget estimates at July-end

Constitutes over 11% of GDP in first quarter

The Centre’s fiscal deficit at July- end touched 92.4 per cent of the Budget Estimates (BE) mainly because of front-loading of expenditure by various government departments.

In the first quarter, the fiscal deficit constituted 11.4 per cent of GDP. The target is to rein it in at 3.2 per cent of GDP in the current financial year compared to 3.5 per cent in 2016-17.

In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit — difference between expenditure and revenue — was Rs 5.04 lakh crore during April-July 2017-18, according to the data of Controller General of Accounts (CGA).

During the corresponding period of the previous financial year, it was 73.7 per cent of the target.

The government had adavanced the Budget presentation and completed the process before the beginning of the current financial year to encourage ministries to go ahead with their expenditure proposals from the very first month, April.

The CGA data showed that government’s revenue receipts improved at Rs 2.91 lakh crore during April-July period, which works out to be 19.2 per cent of the target of Rs 15.15 lakh crore for the whole year.

In the comparable period last fiscal year, revenue receipts comprising taxes and other items were 18.6 per cent of the target. 

According to the CGA data, government’s expenditure had been increasing on sequential basis and totalled Rs 8.08 lakh crore at July-end or 37.7 per cent of the BE.

Ministries of agriculture, consumer affairs, defence and railways witnessed increase in expending as compared to the corresponding period last year.

The revenue expenditure of the government, which is difference between revenue expenditure and revenue receipts, widened to 131.2 per cent of the BE, compared with 93 per cent in the April-July period of the last fiscal.