Fiscal deficit touches 20.5% of annual target in April-July: official data

A fiscal deficit is a reflection of government borrowings from the market

The Central Government's fiscal deficit touched 20.5% of the annual target at the end of July 2022-23 against 21.3% a year ago, reflecting improvement in public finance, as per official data released on Wednesday.

In actual terms, the fiscal deficit - the difference between expenditure and revenue - was ₹3,40,831 crore during the April-July period this financial year.

A fiscal deficit is a reflection of government borrowings from the market.

As per the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the government's receipts, including taxes, stood at ₹7.85 lakh crore or 34.4% of the Budget Estimates (BE) for 2022-23. During the year-ago period, it was nearly the same at 34.6%.

The tax revenue stood at ₹6.66 lakh crore or 34.4% of this year's BE. Last year too, the government had managed to mop 34.2% of its annual estimate during April-July.

The data further revealed that the Central Government's total expenditure was ₹11.26 lakh crore or 28.6% of the BE 2022-23, almost same as in the year-ago period.

Capital expenditure was 27.8% of the full-year budget target compared to 23.2% in the corresponding period last year, as per the monthly account of the Union government up to July 2022, released by the CGA.