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The Centre’s fiscal deficit touched a quarter of its full year target in April this year due to low receipts and high expenditure.
According to data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) on Tuesday, the fiscal deficit was ₹1,37,326 lakh crore or 25.7 per cent of its Budgeted target of ₹5,33,904 lakh crore for 2016-17.
The revenue deficit was even higher at ₹1,19,075 crore or 33.6 per cent of the Budget estimate for the fiscal.
However, officials said the data was on track and typically the first month of a financial year registers high expenditure and low revenue generation.
The Centre has targeted fiscal deficit at 3.5 per cent of the GDP in 2016-17. The Centre’s fiscal deficit in 2015-16 was also under control and was only marginally higher at 3.92 per cent of the GDP, against the targeted 3.9 per cent.
Economists said the data reveals a compression of expenditure in March to keep the deficit under check, which was then taken up in April.
“The fiscal deficit data for 2015-16 is in line with the target and shows the government’s commitment to fiscal consolidation. There was a fiscal surplus in March as expenditure may have been compressed,” said DK Srivastava, chief policy adviser, EY.
According to the CGA data, the Centre had a fiscal surplus of ₹40,521 crore in March 2015, as against a surplus of ₹91,717 crore in March 2014.
Srivastava further said the data for April is in sync with that of the previous month as the postponed expenditure in March was taken up in the new financial year.
“There is always a seasonality in April’s fiscal deficit as expenditure is high,” he said.
The total expenditure in April 2016 was ₹1,61,985 crore or 8.2 per cent of the full year target.
However, total receipts were just ₹24,659 crore or a mere 1.7 per cent of the Budget estimate. This comprised revenue receipts of ₹22,075 crore, which amounted to 1.6 per cent of the full year target.
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