At Rs 8.21 trn, April-July fiscal deficit exceeds FY21 budget estimates

With GDP for April-June also in, it can be calculated that fiscal deficit for Q1FY21 was 17.4% of nominal GDP. FM Sitharaman had pegged fiscal deficit for the year at 3.5% of GDP in 2020-21 Budget

The stress on revenue resources due to Covid-19 continued showing on the Centre’s books. For April-July, the Centre’s fiscal deficit stood at Rs 8.21 trillion, or 103 per cent of 2020-21 budget estimates of 7.96 trillion, compared to 77.8 per cent for the same period last year, official data showed on Monday. In 2019-20, fiscal deficit had crossed 100 per cent of the full year BE by October-end.

With gross domestic product (GDP) data for the April-June quarter also released on Monday, it can now be calculated that fiscal deficit for the first quarter of 2020-21 came in at 17.4