Centre's fiscal deficit at 11.8 pc of full year target: CGA data

New Delhi, The central government's fiscal deficit at the end of May stood at 11.8 per cent of the full-year budget estimates for 2023-24, according to official data. The fiscal deficit was 12.3 per cent of the 2022-23 BE in the same period of the last year.

Fiscal deficit is the difference between total expenditure and revenue of the government. It is an indication of the total borrowings that are needed by the government.

In actual terms, the deficit was Rs 2,10,287 crore at end-May 2023, as per the data of the Controller General of Accounts (CGA).

In the Union Budget, the government aimed to bring down the fiscal deficit during the current financial year 2023-24 to 5.9 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

The deficit was 6.4 per cent of the GDP in 2022-23 against the earlier estimate of 6.71 per cent.

Unveiling the revenue-expenditure data of the Union government for the first two months of the 2023-24, CGA said the net tax revenue was Rs 2.78 lakh crore or 11.9 per cent of the BE.

Its total expenditure was Rs 6.25 lakh crore or 13.9 per cent of the estimates presented in the Union Budget for the current fiscal.

As per the Budget, the fiscal deficit in end-March 2024 is estimated at Rs 17.86 lakh crore.