Fiscal deficit touches 75% of BE in August

Fiscal deficit touched 74.9 per cent of the Budget Estimates for 2014-15 to cross Rs 3.97 lakh crore at the end of August.
At the end of August in the 2013-14 fiscal, the deficit was 74.6 per cent of the Budget Estimates (BE).
The data released by the Controller General of Accounts today showed that the total expenditure of the government during April-August was over Rs 6.72 lakh crore or 37.5 per cent of the estimates for the entire 2014-15 fiscal.
Of the total expenditure, Plan spending was over Rs 1.77 lakh crore. Under non-plan head, it was Rs 4.95 lakh crore.

Revenue collection was over Rs 2.7 lakh crore or 22.7 per cent of the BE.
Total receipts (from revenue and non-debt capital) of the government during the five months was over Rs 2.74 lakh crore.

The data showed that the revenue deficit during the period was over Rs 3.24 lakh crore or 85.8 per cent of the BE.
The fiscal deficit was over Rs 5.08 lakh crore or 4.5 per cent of GDP in 2013-14. It was 4.9 per cent in 2012-13.
For entire 2014-15, fiscal deficit - gap between government expenditure and revenue - for the whole fiscal has been pegged at Rs 5.31 lakh crore or 4.1 per cent of GDP.

The government had put in place a fiscal consolidation roadmap as per which the fiscal deficit has to be brought down to 3 per cent of the GDP by 2016-17.