Fiscal deficit in 9 months at 55% of Budget target

New Delhi, January 31

The Centre’s fiscal deficit stood at Rs 9.82 lakh crore or 55 per cent of the annual Budget target at the end of December 2023, according to data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) on Wednesday. In the corresponding period last year, the deficit was at 59.8 per cent of the budget estimates of 2022-23.

The government says it is committed to reducing the fiscal deficit below 4.5 per cent of the GDP by 2025-26.

For 2023-24, the fiscal deficit of the government is estimated to be Rs 17.86 lakh crore or 5.9 per cent of the GDP. Net tax revenue receipts were Rs 17.29 lakh crore or 74.2 per cent of the full-year target at December-end. During the year-ago period, the net tax collection was 80.4 per cent of that year’s target.

The Centre’s total expenditure between April and December was Rs 30.54 lakh crore or 67.8 per cent of the current year’s budget estimates (BE). In the nine months through December 2022, the expenditure was 71.4 per cent of the BE.

Out of the total revenue expenditure, Rs 7,48,207 crore was on account of interest payments and Rs 2,76,804 crore towards major subsidies.

Aditi Nayar, chief economist, ICRA, said the government’s fiscal deficit was marginally lower than the Rs 9.9 lakh crore recorded in the April-December FY2023.

While net tax revenues rose by 11 per cent, non-tax revenues expanded by 46 per cent on the back of the RBI dividend amid a marginal 2 per cent growth in revenue expenditure and a robust 38 per cent year-on-year expansion in capex.