Fiscal deficit widens to 95.3% of the Budget estimate in Apr-Sep on slower growth in revenue collections

New Delhi: The fiscal deficit of the Central government has widened in the first half of 2018-19 to 95.3 percent of the Budget Estimate (BE), mainly on account of slow growth in revenue collections, as per an official data released on Thursday. The deficit was at 91.3 percent of BE at September-end of the last financial year. In actual terms, the fiscal deficit or gap between the total expenditure and receipts was Rs 5.94 lakh crore during April-September this fiscal. [caption id=“attachment_4495585” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] The government has budgeted to cut fiscal deficit to 3.3 percent of GDP in 2018-19 from 3.53 percent in the previous financial year. The fiscal deficit target for 2018-19 is Rs 6.24 lakh crore. As per the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the tax collection (net) at September-end was Rs 5.82 lakh crore, or 39.4 percent, of BE. It was 44.2 percent of the BE in a similar period last fiscal. The total receipts of the government during April-September 2018 were Rs 7.09 lakh crore, or 39 percent, of BE, compared to 40.6 percent in the same period of 2017-18. The CGA data showed that total expenditure during April-September 2018 was Rs 13.04 lakh crore or 53.4 percent of BE. The capital expenditure was Rs 1.62 lakh crore or 54.2 percent of BE, CGA said.