Fiscal deficit touches 121.5% of full-year target in January on account of lower revenue collections

New Delhi: Fiscal deficit touched 121.5 percent of the full-year revised target of Rs 6.34 lakh crore at the end of January on account of lower revenue collections, government data showed on Tuesday. The fiscal deficit, or the gap between the government’s expenditure and revenue, stood at Rs 7.70 lakh crore during April-January of the current financial year ending March. At the end of January 2018, the deficit was 113.7 percent of the Revised Estimate (RE). [caption id=“attachment_4207381” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The government had budgeted to cut the fiscal deficit to 3.3 percent of GDP or Rs 6.24 lakh crore in 2018-19, from 3.53 percent in the previous financial year. However, in the Interim Budget 2019-20, the fiscal deficit was revised upwards marginally to 3.4 percent of GDP or over Rs 6.34 lakh crore, on account of additional outlay of Rs 20,000 crore for funding income scheme for small farmers. According to the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the revenue receipts of the government totalled Rs 11.81 lakh crore or 68.3 percent of RE till January in 2018-19, compared with 72.8 percent during the same period last fiscal. According to RE, the government expects to mop up Rs 17.29 lakh crore revenue during the current fiscal, from Rs 17.25 lakh crore budgeted originally. Tax revenue was 68.7 percent of RE, compared with 76.5 percent in the comparable period of the previous year. According to the CGA data, the total expenditure of the government at January-end was Rs 20.01 lakh crore or 81.5 percent of RE. The total expenditure for the current fiscal has been raised to Rs 24.57 lakh crore in the RE, from the budgeted Rs 24.42 lakh crore.