Fiscal consolidation: FRBM Panel offers little spending space to govt

CEA in dissent note observes main focus of Centre should be primary deficit, not fiscal deficit

Ahead of what is expected to be a populist Union Budget, the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) committee, which submitted its report to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday, is said to have provided only small wiggle room to the government to boost spending.

The panel is believed to have recommended a fiscal deficit target of closer to three per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) than to the 3.5 per cent as speculated earlier. 

“The panel has not really given the Centre that much fiscal room. For the coming year, it has not recommended a target of