Rs 34,141 crore deficit reported in the first two months of this fiscal
The fiscal deficit of the Centre has reached 1.1 per cent of GDP at the end of May 2003 as per the figures released by the Controller General of Accounts today.
This is nearly 22 per cent of the estimates made in Budget 2003. While the total expenditure has touched 10.4 per cent of the budgeted estimate at Rs 45,677 crore, total receipts have only reached 4 per cent of the estimates at Rs 11,536 crore in the first two months of the current fiscal.
To meet the shortfall, the ways and means advances of the Centre has climbed to Rs 14,587 crore.
The total market borrowing by the finance ministry has been kept lower than last year at 22 per cent of the annual target, compared with 39 per cent in 2002-03.
This has been made possible as expenditure is lower than the same period last year when it had touched 11.1 per cent, though revenue receipts have fared poorly, falling short of last year
