Government’s Fiscal Deficit Touches 35% Of Budget Estimate: Report

The union government’s fiscal deficit has worked out to be ₹ 5.26 lakh crore or 35 per cent of the budget estimates at the end of September 2021, as per the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) on Friday.

The deficit figures in the current fiscal appear much better than the previous financial year when it had soared to 114.8 per cent of the estimates mainly on account of a jump in expenditure to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit or gap between expenditure and revenue was ₹ 5,26,851 crore at end of August, the CGA said. For the current financial year, the government expects the deficit at 6.8 per cent of GDP or ₹ 15,06,812 crore.