Arvind Mayaram swears by the 4.8% fiscal deficit limit
01 Nov 2013
The government hopes to limit fiscal deficit for the current financial year at 4.8 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) even as its fiscal deficit touched Rs4,12,000 crore during April-September, forming 76 per cent of the full-year target.
This compares with the fiscal deficit hitting 65.6 per cent of the budget target during the year-before period.
However, economic affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram is confident of meeting the target for the current financial year despite adverse data.
"We will meet the fiscal deficit target for the current fiscal year," he said on Thursday.
Finance minister P Chidambaram has committed to limit the country's fiscal deficit at 4.8 per cent during the current fiscal, slightly lower than the 4.9 per cent deficit for the previous fiscal.
The union budget has set a fiscal deficit ceiling of around Rs5,42,000 crore for the 2013-14 financial year.
Meanwhile, net tax receipts of the government touched Rs3,08,000 crore in the first half of the current fiscal ending 31 March 2014, while total expenditure was Rs8,09,000 crore.
The government had, on 18 September, announced some austerity measures, including a freeze on fresh appointments and bar on executive class air travel, in order to cut non-plan expenditure by 10 per cent.
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