Centre's fiscal deficit at 76% of revised estimates during Apr-Feb: CGA

The central government's fiscal deficit at the end of February worked out to be 76% of the revised estimate, indicating that it is likely to remain within the projections made by Finance Minister

The central government's fiscal deficit at the end of February worked out to be 76% of the revised estimate, indicating that it is likely to remain within the projections made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last month. The minister had revised the fiscal deficit projections for 2020-21 to ₹18.48 lakh crore or 9.5% of the GDP from the original budget estimate of ₹7.96 lakh crore or 3.5% of the GDP, mainly on account of additional outgo to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. As per the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the fiscal deficit at the end of February stood at ₹14.05 lakh crore or 76% of the revised estimates. This compares to 135.2% during the corresponding period of the previous financial year.