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The Centre’s fiscal deficit exceeded 80 per cent of the Budget target in the first eight months (April-November). However, this is slightly better than the numbers recorded during same period in 2011-12.
According to data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the deficit was Rs 4.13 lakh crore, or 80.4 per cent of the Budget estimate of Rs 5.14 lakh crore. The Government, while announcing the Budget, targeted the deficit at 5.1 per cent of GDP and later revised it to 5.3 per cent.
Meanwhile, the April-November data provide some relief as the fiscal deficit position in April-November (2011-12) was 85.6 per cent of the Budget target. The improvement is mainly on account of some expenditure tightening.
Net tax receipts in April-November were Rs 3.7 lakh crore, while total expenditure was about Rs 8.67 lakh crore. The Government has imposed such measures as rationalisation of expenditure and optimisation of available resources to improve the fiscal deficit situation.
This includes a 10 per cent mandatory cut on non-Plan expenditure in the current year, a ban on holding of meetings and conferences at five-star hotels, ban on creation of Plan and non-Plan posts and restrictions on foreign travel.
To bring down the subsidy, the Government in September raised the diesel price by a steep Rs 5 per litre and capped the number of subsidised cooking gas cylinders to six per household in a year.
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