Govt cuts growth forecast but confident of meeting fiscal deficit

New Delhi: Government lowered its official growth forecast to between 5.7 and 5.9 percent for this fiscal year, the finance ministry’s mid-year economic review said on Monday, but said it was on track to meet a fiscal deficit target of 5.3 percent.

[caption id=“attachment_560039” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The government has struggled to contain the deficit. Reuters[/caption]

The budgeted forecast for GDP growth in the 2012/13 fiscal year was 7.6 percent, but growth was just 5.4 percent in the first half of the year. Finance Minister P Chidambaram recently projected growth of between 5.5 and 6 percent for the year.

The government has struggled to contain the deficit, which has swelled because of costly oil subsidies and sluggish tax revenues, prompting global ratings agencies to warn of a possible credit downgrade.

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Reuters