Centre following the fiscal glide path: DEA Secretary Atanu Chakraborty

Economic Affairs Secretary Atanu Chakraborty said on Friday that the government has been following a glide path to reduce the fiscal deficit and will continue to do so, a day after data showed that Centre’s fiscal deficit touched 92.6 per cent of the Budget Estimates (BE) in the first half of 2019-20.

 

Chakraborty’s remarks came on the sidelines of a meeting between Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and United States Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

 

Though the April-September figures seem alarming, it is a bit lower than 95.3 per cent in the corresponding period of 2018-19. But, then, there was fiscal slippage in FY19, when the deficit rose to 3.4 per cent of gross domestic product, against the target of 3.3 per cent.

 

The Centre could still rein in the deficit at the targeted level in the current financial year. However, tax revenues may take a hit due to recent cuts in the corporation tax rates.