Stimulus roadblock: Fiscal deficit at 96% of full-year target

In what could dash hopes of stimulus to propel the economy, the Centre’s fiscal deficit for April-August came in at Rs 5.25 lakh crore, the highest ever for this period compared to any previous year. 

The deficit for the first five months of the year stood at 96 per cent of the full-year target of Rs 5.46 lakh crore despite cut in capital expenditure in August. The trend is contrary to the earlier pattern when expenditure was front-loaded, at least for capital outlays.

For the same period last year, the fiscal deficit stood at 76.4 per cent of the full-year target.

The data