Fiscal deficit crosses 77% of budgeted target in first four months of FY20

The Centre’s fiscal deficit touched 77.8 per cent of the Budget Estimates (BE) at Rs 5.5 trillion in the first four months of the financial year 2019-20 (FY20), against 86.5 per cent in the year-ago period. 

The deficit stood at 8.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of FY20 (Q1FY20), an improvement over the Q1FY19 figure of 9.5 per cent.

The government managed to keep the deficit, in terms of percentage of BE, at a lower level in April-July of FY20 compared to last year largely because of its expenditure compression, mainly capital expenditure (capex). Moderation in