FM says fiscal deficit target on track
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said fiscal deficit target of 3.8 per cent of GDP for this financial year will be achieved and figures released for the month of April were high because of miscalculation under one head of interest payment.
By PTI |
NEW DELHI: Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said fiscal deficit target of 3.8 per cent of GDP for this financial year will be achieved and figures released for the month of April were high because of miscalculation under one head of interest payment.
"We are on target. There was some miscalculation in figures for April and those are being corrected," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function organised by a global association of research and policy institutes, GDN.
He said collections on five taxes have surpassed the target for the months of April and May.
The figures, released by Controller General of Accounts, showed that fiscal deficit was high at Rs 31,956 crore in April, constituting 21.5 per cent of the budget estimates of Rs 1,48,686 crore for the whole year.
Fiscal deficit in the first month of last fiscal had constituted 18.8 per cent of the estimates for entire 2005-06.
After pressing the pause button for one year, the government decided this year to adhere to the targets set in the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act to reduce fiscal deficit by at least 0.3 per cent of GDP and Revenue Deficit by 0.5 per cent GDP. The target is to contain fiscal deficit at three per cent and wipe out revenue deficit by 2008-09.
Accordingly, government has set a target of reining in fiscal deficit at 3.8 per cent of GDP from 4.1 per cent last fiscal.
"We are on target. There was some miscalculation in figures for April and those are being corrected," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function organised by a global association of research and policy institutes, GDN.
He said collections on five taxes have surpassed the target for the months of April and May.
The figures, released by Controller General of Accounts, showed that fiscal deficit was high at Rs 31,956 crore in April, constituting 21.5 per cent of the budget estimates of Rs 1,48,686 crore for the whole year.
Fiscal deficit in the first month of last fiscal had constituted 18.8 per cent of the estimates for entire 2005-06.
After pressing the pause button for one year, the government decided this year to adhere to the targets set in the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act to reduce fiscal deficit by at least 0.3 per cent of GDP and Revenue Deficit by 0.5 per cent GDP. The target is to contain fiscal deficit at three per cent and wipe out revenue deficit by 2008-09.
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Accordingly, government has set a target of reining in fiscal deficit at 3.8 per cent of GDP from 4.1 per cent last fiscal.
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