Government’s Fiscal Deficit For April-November Breaches The Budgeted Target For FY19

The government's fiscal deficit for the eight months between April and November 2018 is 114.8 per cent of the budgeted target of the entire fiscal year (FY19) and stands at Rs 7.17 lakh crore, reports The New Indian Express (TNIE).

According to the latest government data, the net revenues were Rs 7.32 trillion until the end of November. The data also shows that deficit increased in November since the fiscal deficit stood at Rs 6.49 trillion for the April-October period.

This was 103.9 per cent of the budgeted target for current fiscal, compared to the 115 per cent for the April-November period.

“There are several risks to meet the budgeted targets for revenues and expenditures, with one of the predominant concerns arising from a possible shortfall in indirect tax collections, despite the seasonal pickup in tax revenues in the last quarter of every fiscal,” said Aditi Nayar, a Principal Economist at ICRA Ratings.

It is widely expected that the government won't be able to stick to the fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent of GDP set in the Budget 2018-19.

However, in September 2018, Economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg had stated,“the government is committed....something would be done to ensure that the fiscal deficit is not breached.”

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