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