Govt plans to borrow Rs2 ,08,000 cr in fiscal second half

The central government plans to borrow Rs2,08,000 crore from the markets in the second half of the fiscal year 2017-18, economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said while addressing the media on Thursday.

While this is in line with the government's budgeted borrowing target of Rs5,80,000 crore for the full fiscal, Garg said the government may make additional borrowings from the market, if required, to finance spending.

The government has already borrowed nearly Rs3,72,000 crore in the first half of FY18.

The government sets is annual borrowing target to meet its yearly expenditure and interest payment obligations while taking care to keep these within limits.

The fiscal deficit target for FY18 is set at 3.2 per cent of the GDP and Garg said the finance ministry would stick to the targets `for now'. He, however, did not rule out additional borrowing in future, stating that any decision on whether to borrow more or not will be taken at the end of November or early December.

''As per the budgeted programme, the calendar was finalised. Major part of borrowing will be in the next three months and early January and leave the smaller part for the rest of January and February- March,'' Garg said.

According to Garg, capital expenditure budget for all departments stands at Rs3.75 lakh crore for the year. An additional Rs25,000-crore expenditure proposed by central sector enterprises will take this to last year's level of Rs4,00,000 crore.