Fiscal deficit widens to 4.6%

• The country’s fiscal deficit widened to 4.6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product in 2019-20 mainly on account of poor revenue realisation, according to official data.

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• The deficit, which signifies the gap between government revenue and expenditure, is higher than the revised estimate of 3.8 percent for the fiscal.

• Finance Minister while unveiling the budget in February pegged the fiscal deficit for 2019-20 at 3.8 percent, up from 3.3 percent in the original budget estimate.

• According to the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) data, the fiscal deficit for 2019-20 worked out to be 4.59 per cent of the GDP, while the revenue deficit was 3.27 percent. The effective revenue deficit was 2.36 percent, the data showed.

• The increase in the fiscal deficit has been mainly on account of shortfall in revenue collection during 2019-20. The revenue receipts during the year worked out to be only 90 percent of the revised estimate.