FY16 fiscal deficit target met

The country’s fiscal deficit for 2015-16 was Rs 5.32 lakh crore, about 99.5 per cent of the government’s revised target of Rs 5.35 lakh crore, compared with 99.6 per cent for the same period a year before, official data showed on Tuesday.

As a percentage of gross domestic product at current prices, also issued on Tuesday, the deficit was 3.9 per cent, as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said it would be in February. For FY17, the deficit target is 3.5 per cent of GDP.

For the year ended March 2016, the provisional figure of combined revenue was Rs 1.24 lakh crore or 99.2 per cent of the revised target of Rs 1.25 lakh crore, compared with 98.7 per cent of the full-year target a year before.

 

Total expenditure was Rs 1.77 lakh crore or 99.3 per cent of the revised target, compared with 99 per cent for the same period last year.  Total expenditure was Rs 1.61 lakh crore, or 8.2 per cent of the full-year estimate, compared with 8.7 per cent last year.