Budget 2018: Govt breaches fiscal deficit target of 3.2% for FY18, pegs it higher at 3.5%: Arun Jaitley

New Delhi: The fiscal deficit will overshoot to 3.5 percent from the earlier estimate of 3.2 percent in the current fiscal, ending 31 March, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday. The target has been fixed at 3.3 percent for 2018-19 as against the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act target of 3 percent. [caption id=“attachment_4330469” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A file image of Arun Jaitley. PTI.[/caption] Expressing the government’s commitment to bring down the fiscal deficit, Jaitley said in his Budget speech that he has endeavoured to bring down the fiscal deficit from 4.1 percent in 2014-15 to 3.9 percent in the following year and further to 3.5 percent in 2016-17. Fiscal deficit has a bearing on sovereign rating of the country as well as the debt market. FRBM Review Panel headed by former Revenue Secretary N K Singh had recommended debt to GDP ratio of 60 percent by 2023 and fiscal deficit at 3 percent for next 3 years. Click here for full coverage of Union Budget 2018 .