Budget 2019: Fiscal deficit brought down to 3.4 pc, says Finance Minister Goyal

Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, while presenting the interim Budget 2019 in the Lok Sabha on Friday, said that fiscal deficit has been brought down to 3.4 per cent in the revised estimates for 2018-19.

The difference between total revenue and total expenditure of the government is termed as fiscal deficit. It is an indication of the total borrowings needed by the government.

The revised fiscal deficit estimated for 2017-18 had been put at Rs 5.95 lakh crore at 3.5 per cent of GDP.

Continuing the government's path of fiscal reduction and consolidation, then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had projected a fiscal deficit of 3.3 per cent of GDP for the year 2018-19.

Jaitley had also proposed the acceptance of key recommendations of the Fiscal Reform and Budget Management Committee to bring down the Central government's debt to GDP ratio to 40 per cent.

"The current account deficit is expected to be 2.5 per cent this year," added Finance Minister Goyal.

The current account deficit is a measurement of a country's trade where the value of the goods and services it imports exceeds the value of the goods and services it exports. The current account includes net income, such as interest and dividends, and transfers.