Fiscal deficit touches 92.4% of budget estimates at July-end

Sep 1,  11:01 AM The government's fiscal deficit at the end of July this year touched 92(point)4 per cent of the budget estimate. This was mainly because of front loading of expenditure by government departments. The fiscal deficit is the difference between the government's expenditure and revenue. The government aims to bring down the fiscal deficit to 3.2 per cent of GDP in the current fiscal. According to Controller General of Accounts data, the government's revenue receipts improved to 2.91 lakh crore rupees during the April to July 2017 period, which is 19.2 per cent of the target for the whole year. Revenue expenditure widened to 131.2 per cent of the budget estimate, from 93 per cent in the corresponding period last year.