New Delhi: The country’s fiscal deficit at Rs 8.51 lakh crore at the end of February 2019 had touched 4.52 per cent of the GDP, a senior Finance Ministry source said on Thursday citing its data in this regard. The government’s has pegged its fiscal deficit target for 2018-19 at 3.4 per cent for which was revised upwards from the earlier 3.3 per cent. The government is yet to release the fiscal deficit figure for the last financial year, including the figure for March.
At the end of February, the fiscal deficit is at Rs 8,51,499 crore had crossed 134 per cent of the budget estimate (BE). In the corresponding period of previous year the deficit stood at 120 per cent . “The receipts are sufficient to cover only 61 per cent of expenditure. As a percentage to GDP, fiscal Deficit is 4.52 per cent and revenue deficit is 3.45 per cent”, says the Finance Ministry note. Till end-February, the total expenditure of the government was Rs 21,88,839 crore or 89 per cent of BE. The figure for the corresponding Period of the Previous Year (COPPY) was 90 per cent.
